Best-looking guns?

Was half aware and cautious of that, Rich.
My only (weak) defence is that it was such a nice postcard of 'a' French 75.

I'd have gotten away with it if you pesky quite correct people hadn't of interfered.

 

Artillery is a weak point in my knowledge, but I recall reading that the French 75 was responsible for artillery batteries going from a standard six guns to four guns by the end of WWI. The loading mechanism was so clever and advanced that four 75s could lay down as many shells as six of the earlier guns. That design was copied by most western armies and was quite standard by WWII.

 

I don't believe so. Pre-19th Century an artillery battery was simply a unit organized and equipped with guns and howitzers from an ordnance establishment; there was little formal "system" to the organization, whereas the "system" was usually referring to the equipment as in the Gribeuval "system" of gun and howitzer tubes, carriages, and accessories. Standardized battery organization really began with Napoleon, but varied from 4 to 12 pieces in different armies until the Great War.

It was actually the recoil system of the French 75 that made it capable of such a rapid rate of fire. The breech mechanism was a simple interrupted screw, somewhat more complicated than a sliding block, but no faster. Otherwise, loading was a factor of the skill of the loader shoveling in rounds by hand without losing fingers.

Of course, when deconstructed, the U.S. Army discovered the sekret of the clever and advanced French recoil mechanism was that they were essentially handmade by craftsman to the tolerances of a Swiss watch and were totally unsuited to mass production.

 

Oi.
I find this discussion of personal bangstick training interesting, but it doesn't include many pretty firearms, does it.
Got a feeling if these posts were split off you could have a really nice thread on this stuff.
(Edited, as split was done)

I like Wheel locks.
Especially the metal-bodied or 'miniature' variety.
Something about them fits a continuing fascination with intermediate technology. Close... but no cigar.

 

I shall contribute this Reising Model 55

 

Isn't the Model 55 kinda like hooking up with a blonde bimbo. They look good and are fun to screw around with, but really aren't good for much else?

 

I've always thought Samuel Colt's 1851, 1861 Navy and 1860 Army revolvers were very attractive and are accurate, fun to shoot guns.

The Navy was so called because it fired the Navy .36 caliber ball. Notable users of the Colt Navy were Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest, "Doc" Holiday, "Wild Bill" Hickock, (for CAC) Ned Kelly and was the preferred hand gun of the Texas Rangers.

Model 1851 Colt Navy
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Then there was the improved 1861 Colt Navy. Still in .36 caliber, with improved features, but I find somewhat less aesthetically pleasing, and not manufactured in near the numbers of the 1851 (1851 Colt Navy 272,000 vs 1861 Coly Navy 38,000).

Model 1861 Colt Navy
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The Navy model originally provided a pistol light enough to be carried in a belt holster as opposed to the saddle holsters required by the heavier Walker Colts or Colt Dragoon. The Colt Navy was close to half the weight at 2.6 lbs. vs the Colt Walker at 4.5 lbs. or Colt Dragoon at 4.25 lbs.

The Model 1847 Colt Walker was a .44 caliber beast. Holding up to 60 grains of powder (twice the load of most other revolvers) and having a 9" barrel, it was accurate out to 100 yards. Cylinder ruptures led Colt to recommend that no more than 50 grains of powder be used and one of the features of the follow-on Dragoon model was to reduce the chamber size to only hold the 50 grain charge. Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker, Colt's collaborator on the pistols design wanted a pistol that was "large enough to dispatch horses as well as enemy soldiers". He was apparently successful because an Army Medical Officer during the Mexican War stated, "that the revolver would carry as far and strike with the same or greater force than the .54 caliber Mississippi Rifle."

Model 1847 Colt Walker
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The Colt Dragoon, still in .44 caliber, corrected a number of the shortcomings of the Walker Colt and marginally (about a quarter pound) lightened the pistol. It reduced the chamber capacity to 50 grains of powder, provided a loading lever latch and shortened the barrel to 7.5 inches. The Colt Dragoon came in three successive models; the First Model produced from 1848-1850, the Second Model in 1850-1851 and the Third Model from 1851-1860. Each model added design refinements Colt had developed in his other revolvers. It was an extremely popular pistol.

Third Model Colt Dragoon.
​

The final evolution, building upon the Colt Navy frame, but retaining the Army preferred .44 caliber was the Model 1860 Colt Army. It had an 8" barrel vs the 7.5 in barrel of the Colt Navy and Third Model Dragoon and weight dropped from 4.25 lbs (Dragoon) to 2.7 lbs.(Colt Army).

Model 1860 Colt Army
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​

 

How about the Radom (Pistolet WZ. 35 Vis)? The Poles took the best features of the Hi Power, tweaked it to avoid patent infringement and added a few nice touches of their own. I've never shot one, but by all accounts it is one of the most ergonomic and reliable pistols ever produced, and to my eye, a very handsome pistol indeed. The Germans were impressed enough to adopt it for front line service and (like the Hi Power) it remained in production for German forces throughout the war.

 

True....the first Department I worked for , 1991, had a rack of Reisings in the gun locker; we had to qualify with them. The story goes that they had got them on the cheap in the 50's as surplus.

 

I the Reising in the "blonde" then this has to be the "Red Head" M-41 Johnson

 

Now I like that; I find that to be a good looking weapon. Unfortunately I've always had a weakness for Gingers. Kinda like Kryptonite is to Superman.

 

This is my favorite photo of this iconic gun, the Maxim (or Vickers-Maxim, or just Vickers). These Royal Navy fellows look very businesslike with their wheeled version of the gun. An amazingly clear photo, considering the age. I don't know what year this is, but it may be about 1895 or so, though I don't really know. That front shield doesn't look like a water reservoir, so perhaps a light air-cooled version? Does anyone know when and where this photo was taken?

Few people realize that the initial British purchase of Maxim guns was in the old .577/450 Martini Cartridge about 1886. When the Brits went to the .303, the Maxims joined the party and went .303 as well. And of course, the gun was purchased across the world using a dozen or so different calibers. It was a reliable gun from the beginning, and only phased out because new guns were made with less machining and lighter weight as technology advanced.

 

I always held the belief that the best looking gun was the one in your hand at the time of need ,the worst looking the one pointing at you. As with most things in life though looks are not everything and as long as the thing fires and shoots straight when called upon, job done.

 

If you must shoot some fellow, you owe him the courtesy of shooting him with the most stylish firearm you can afford. I feel badly for all those people we shoot with iterations of the M16/M4/AR15. It's a perfectly adequate and effective rifle platform, but you just know they are disappointed that they weren't shot with a vintage Rigby or the like.

 

Yes OK only using the best seems the decent thing to do, I know I would be a bit put out if I was shot by anything other than top of the range.

 

My third former fiancee was a redhead.....hummmm....

Anyway, wasn't this weapon was made by the same guy who sold a lot of automatic weapons to the First Special Service Force? He didn't have much luck getting his inventions adopted by the Army.

 

If shopping for decorative Maxim types, might I suggest any QF 1pdr variant. That's Pom Pom-ing a 1lb 37mm projectile at 300RPM.
There's one in Leeds Armouries that always gets me with it's 'lets just make it the same, but much much bigger' effect.


This one's in S Africa, but it's very nice.:


Shame that neither picture gives a real sense of scale.
The discerning shopper will find them on a variety of carriages, though. Suitable for anywhere about the home.


Maybe I have a slight brass fetish when it comes to military aesthetics...
To counter that, I also like the look of the more familiar style of 2pdr Naval Pom Pom, and they're usually battleship grey.
Something a bit 'War of the Worlds' about them.

 

Pom Poms have always impressed...pity they couldn't mount it on a chasis...would reak havoc pointing horizontally...even a smaller version at the back of a Lancaster?

 

So shiny

 

Han Solo had them mounted on the Millennial Falcon.