Hi All,
I think the M79 and M83 Revolvers are very underappreciated. Craig Brown had a well-known appreciation for them and he was very gracious in helping me identify the traits and unit mark on my first example a little over a decade ago (An M79 Issued to the Bavarian Feldgendarmerie)- I've been able to find a number of cool examples since then with the goal of finding a maker and state set for each model, plus the wonky commercial/private purchase ones.
I recently completed my M83 maker/state set and did it pretty efficiently (4 revolvers, 4 states, 4 makers), so I thought I would share pictures, should anyone else want to try to do the same. (I'm missing a Saxon M79 and will do the same for that model when I find one)
The state proof is on the left side of the revolver, and well as on the cylinder. The maker mark is on the left side of the frame near the trigger. Erfurt and Mauser dated production, while SUhl and Dreyse did not. (Leading to a few arguments with uninformed FFLs on what was an antique lol)
1) Prussian (Eagle) / Erfurt - Garde Artillery Marked- The one is the roughest of the four, but has wonderful provenance and came with a bunch of documentation on the vet who brought it back-- it came from his grandson. Ward MacNeal was an army doctor that studied trench fever during the war and later returned to the US and became one of the first in medicine to argue the heredity aspect of some cancers. He was later president of the American Society for Cancer Research as well as other prestigious posts.
2) Saxon (Cypher) / Suhl Consortium- 12th Field Artillery marked- a pretty example in general. Difficult to find ones from the smaller kingdoms
3) Bavarian ( GF)/ Dreyse- Unit Mark Removed. Not quite as salty as the Prussian, but not a lot of Bavarian ones were made, per Heinrich Harder's study.
4) Wurttemberg (Antler) / Mauser- 121st Infantry marked- While the take-down pin is a replacement, otherwise solid and very rare-- Per the contract with Mauser, only 1,500 were made for Wurttemberg.
In any case, these revolvers were very clunky and obsolete when they were made, but very much fit the doctrine of the day- the quality of workmanship is high and they certainly present well-- I hope more folks start to appreciate them.
Thanks for looking--
I think the M79 and M83 Revolvers are very underappreciated. Craig Brown had a well-known appreciation for them and he was very gracious in helping me identify the traits and unit mark on my first example a little over a decade ago (An M79 Issued to the Bavarian Feldgendarmerie)- I've been able to find a number of cool examples since then with the goal of finding a maker and state set for each model, plus the wonky commercial/private purchase ones.
I recently completed my M83 maker/state set and did it pretty efficiently (4 revolvers, 4 states, 4 makers), so I thought I would share pictures, should anyone else want to try to do the same. (I'm missing a Saxon M79 and will do the same for that model when I find one)
The state proof is on the left side of the revolver, and well as on the cylinder. The maker mark is on the left side of the frame near the trigger. Erfurt and Mauser dated production, while SUhl and Dreyse did not. (Leading to a few arguments with uninformed FFLs on what was an antique lol)
1) Prussian (Eagle) / Erfurt - Garde Artillery Marked- The one is the roughest of the four, but has wonderful provenance and came with a bunch of documentation on the vet who brought it back-- it came from his grandson. Ward MacNeal was an army doctor that studied trench fever during the war and later returned to the US and became one of the first in medicine to argue the heredity aspect of some cancers. He was later president of the American Society for Cancer Research as well as other prestigious posts.
2) Saxon (Cypher) / Suhl Consortium- 12th Field Artillery marked- a pretty example in general. Difficult to find ones from the smaller kingdoms
3) Bavarian ( GF)/ Dreyse- Unit Mark Removed. Not quite as salty as the Prussian, but not a lot of Bavarian ones were made, per Heinrich Harder's study.
4) Wurttemberg (Antler) / Mauser- 121st Infantry marked- While the take-down pin is a replacement, otherwise solid and very rare-- Per the contract with Mauser, only 1,500 were made for Wurttemberg.
In any case, these revolvers were very clunky and obsolete when they were made, but very much fit the doctrine of the day- the quality of workmanship is high and they certainly present well-- I hope more folks start to appreciate them.
Thanks for looking--
