Hello all,
Here are a few pictures of a worn out and unusable theatrical revolver which was given to me by an old friend, who has now sadly gone to the big tent in the sky.
He told me that it was used in a 'wild west' circus act and latterly in cowboy re-enactment get togethers. It was given to me in a bag of broken parts with the remains of another similar but even more broken one. I think he dropped them frequently as he wasn't very good at twirling them around his finger, (sorry John)!
I'm pretty sure that this is of Japanese manufacture, the sideplate reads; MGC Manufactory. It's chambered for .44-40 long blanks. The cylinder and entire gun is cast from very inferior soft white metal. The chambers are cast so that it's not possible to accept a live round, and the barrel is cast with a solid bar through the centre which will only allow smoke and flash to emerge from the muzzle.
With it he gave me a couple of .22 adapters made of brass and bored at an angle so that it is impossible to chamber a a live .22 round. The reason for the adapters were because .44-40 blanks were expensive and usually much too loud, so .22 long blank or even the tiny .22 short blank could be used.
I hope this is not off topic, I only remembered the old gun was in the bottom of the spares box when discussing Morris Tubes, and .38 snap caps!
Best regards,
navyman.
Here are a few pictures of a worn out and unusable theatrical revolver which was given to me by an old friend, who has now sadly gone to the big tent in the sky.
He told me that it was used in a 'wild west' circus act and latterly in cowboy re-enactment get togethers. It was given to me in a bag of broken parts with the remains of another similar but even more broken one. I think he dropped them frequently as he wasn't very good at twirling them around his finger, (sorry John)!
I'm pretty sure that this is of Japanese manufacture, the sideplate reads; MGC Manufactory. It's chambered for .44-40 long blanks. The cylinder and entire gun is cast from very inferior soft white metal. The chambers are cast so that it's not possible to accept a live round, and the barrel is cast with a solid bar through the centre which will only allow smoke and flash to emerge from the muzzle.
With it he gave me a couple of .22 adapters made of brass and bored at an angle so that it is impossible to chamber a a live .22 round. The reason for the adapters were because .44-40 blanks were expensive and usually much too loud, so .22 long blank or even the tiny .22 short blank could be used.
I hope this is not off topic, I only remembered the old gun was in the bottom of the spares box when discussing Morris Tubes, and .38 snap caps!
Best regards,
navyman.