mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-One of the few French military handguns that was missing from the collection were the early revolvers. The Mle 1873 and the Mle 1892. I missed the boat getting an 1892 when they were much more affordable around 10 yrs ago. An honest oversight as I was more focused on French auto loaders.
-A very nice Mle 1892 rig popped up in a west coast auction last weekend. The holster was a repop so it really didn't factor into my bidding calculus other than the thought that I could probably get $50-75 for it over on Evil Pay. In the end I got the lot for $50 under my proxy bid which was set to 80% of market. Mle 1892s have started to take off, bringing between $800-1000 these days.
-She showed up today and I was impressed with both the revolver and the repop holster. There were traces of storage grease on the revolver and the build quality of the holster was much better than most copies you see these days. Someone did a good job with this one.
-My example is dated 1902. The Mle 1892 was built as late as the early 20s but for the most part production ended with the Great War. Total production was approx. 365,000. Back off the capture screw at the rear of the frame and the lock works plate swings open. To load you pull back on the loading gate, much like a Swiss 1882 revolver. With the loading gate back you can also swing the cylinder out to the right. Trigger pull is a heavy but crisp in both SA and DA. The grip is better than you'd expect and the frame has an unusual offset to the right where the grips mount.
-It's a pretty revolver and like the Luger the precise machining and fine finish meant it was expensive to make (roughly 30% more than a Lebel rifle). That fact forced the French government to focus more on auto loaders when tremendous material losses mounted.
-A very nice Mle 1892 rig popped up in a west coast auction last weekend. The holster was a repop so it really didn't factor into my bidding calculus other than the thought that I could probably get $50-75 for it over on Evil Pay. In the end I got the lot for $50 under my proxy bid which was set to 80% of market. Mle 1892s have started to take off, bringing between $800-1000 these days.
-She showed up today and I was impressed with both the revolver and the repop holster. There were traces of storage grease on the revolver and the build quality of the holster was much better than most copies you see these days. Someone did a good job with this one.
-My example is dated 1902. The Mle 1892 was built as late as the early 20s but for the most part production ended with the Great War. Total production was approx. 365,000. Back off the capture screw at the rear of the frame and the lock works plate swings open. To load you pull back on the loading gate, much like a Swiss 1882 revolver. With the loading gate back you can also swing the cylinder out to the right. Trigger pull is a heavy but crisp in both SA and DA. The grip is better than you'd expect and the frame has an unusual offset to the right where the grips mount.
-It's a pretty revolver and like the Luger the precise machining and fine finish meant it was expensive to make (roughly 30% more than a Lebel rifle). That fact forced the French government to focus more on auto loaders when tremendous material losses mounted.
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