Serial Number OCD?

[deadin]

Nothing like a wet, windy weekend to bring out the boredom.
Looking for something to do I decided to disassemble and clean a French M1873 Service revolver I recently acquired. As I got into it I began to think there was some serious OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) going on at St. Etienne in 1884 when this gun was made.

Here's a link to what I'm talking about..... What do you all think?


Untitled

 

[timn8er]

That's wild! I wonder if one person was responsible for all
those stamps on each individual firearm? Even though there
probably much of an assembly line, that person would have been
kept pretty busy.

 

[gaucho1]

They had a German working for them that week.



Cool gun, can you find ammo?

 

[deadin]

Ammo isn't too problematic. The brass is fairly easy to make from .44 Spec or Mag. Just shorten and do a little work on the rim. (Thin and reduce the diameter a bit.) Bullets are another story. The diameter is no problem (.451). However the heel seat is a pain. I'm having to chuck them up in my lathe and turn just the right amount off the base. It's fairly time consuming, but I only need to make up a dozen or so just to be able to say I've shot it.

 

[Rule3]

They had a German working for them that week.



Cool gun, can you find ammo?

A High ranking German ENGINEER.

I like it, my kind of gun.

Rule3 formerly known as OCD1

 

[Texas Star]

I went to high school with a guy who had one of those. It felt pretty good in my hand, but the ballistics were even weaker than the .455 Eley.

I often wondered how it worked to stop a wild-eyed Berber headed for a French officer with a scimitar in hand.

They were finished "in the white", and it'd seem that that might promote rust. But most that I've seen weren't rusted.

It's worth noting that this was replaced by another weak round, the 8mm revolver. But that 1892 design was better, I think, and had a swingout cylinder. Some wonder why the 1892 gun has a cylinder that swings out to the right. The reason supposedly was that the officer would have his revolver in his left hand, sword in the the right.

 

[Qball]

Well they sure don't like to get parts mixed up when cleaning them.
Just think of ten similar revolvers broken down to the bare on the same table.

 

[2152hq]

On the Double Action Lifter and the Mainspring Tensioner,,looks like Pierre originally got confused and struck the serial# with the 'B' where the '6' was to go,,then used the 6 to over stamp the B

On the Frame, it was originally assembly number B15,,then overstamped B17.

At least two different sets of the larger size stamps used plus a small size.
,,makes you wonder if they never heard of cigar boxes for keeping gun parts sorted out..


They certainly knew how to make busy work at the St Eddie shop didn't they!

Great pictures and an interesting revolver too.
Thanks for posting them.

 

[LVSteve]

I am afraid I like to tweak the serial number OCD folks by handing them a wartime refurb Mosin with mixed numbers or a Russian capture Mauser with mixed parts and the 1/4 inch thick reblue. The OCD recipient looks at it and this odd look comes quickly over their face. Then as they realise that NOTHING matches they look ill like you just gave them a hungry spitting cobra to hold. Ain't I a stinker?

 

[Cyrano]

At that time the numbers were needed as probably most of those parts were hand fitted , and had to be kept together with the rest of the gun for reassembly.