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I am pleased to announce the acquisition, from a well-known dealer here in Canada, of a rather nice addition to my collection of Victorian-era British Empire cartridge firearms ... an Adams Mark III .450 revolver, also referred to in commercial production versions (such as an officer would purchase for personal use, for example) as the 'Model of 1872'.
(These images are from the dealer's website, as I will not likely have the revolver until toward the end of the week - if then, what with the Xmas parcel load on the poatal system .... click on thumbnails to enlarge ....)
The .450 Adams was the first official centerfire cartridge service revolver adopted by the British War Department - The "Mark I" Adams was actually a breechloading conversion of the primary percussion service revolver, as indicated by its official designation in the W.D. "List of Changes" entry 1738 of 26 Nov 1868 - "Deane & Adams' Revolver Pistol Converted to a Breech-Loader by Mr. J. Adams" - which referenced the fact that the conversions were performed by the Adams Patent Small Arms Company pursuant to certain patents of John Adams. The five-shot percussion revolvers had a one-piece frame and integral barrel:
The 1868 conversion to centerfire cartridge breechloader included a loading gate and bored-through replacement cylinder, with a fixed case-extraction rod mounted:
In February of 1872, the "Pistol, Adams' Central Fire, B.L. (Mark II)" was adopted - these revolvers were made as cartridge arms, with a two-piece frame and six-shot cylinder, but retaining the fixed ejector rod:
Shortly thereafter, John Adams convinced the War Department to also incorporate a pivoting ejector rod patented by him, and in August 1872 the "Pistol, Adams', Central Fire, B.L. (Mark III)" was formally adopted. The very brief List of Changes entry for this pattern simply states: "It differs from the previous pattern, Mark II (L.o.C. 2227) in having a more efficient extractor." As mentioned above, my new acquisition is this version.
When the North West Mounted Police were being set up (1873/74) Adams revolvers were ordered from the War Department, the request having specified that they should be of the "latest pattern". When the shipment of revolvers finally made it to Manitoba in mid-1874, where the Force had been assembled for its 'Great March West', it was discovered that sold-out-of-service Mark I revolvers had been sent (apparently by a commercial jobber) which had been so poorly packed that many were damaged, forcing armorers to piece together a reduced supply of serviceable weapons. (The late arrival of the revolvers, and the necessary repairs, delayed the departure of the Force for several weeks, and it finally got under way on July 8 1874.)
The War Department agreed to replace these first NWMP revolvers with Mark III revolvers, although they did not arrive until 1875 ... and then only 296 were received out of the shipment of 300, four having been stolen in transit! (My revolver has no NWMP provenance, unfortunately ... in fact, based upon its serial number (in the 17,000 range) it was undoubtedly manufactured quite a bit later than the Mark III's supplied to the Mounted Police, all known examples of which have serial numbers in the 5600 through 8300 range ...)
_________________ GrantR Canada
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