Baltimore Show Snag #2: Camelot Delvigne Mle. 1873

Also picked this up at the Baltimore show. Andrew from Augustus Fine Antiques had it on his table and I couldn't let it go Sunday Afternoon. I've been looking for a French Mle. 1873 for a few years now. It's a recent immigrant from Switzerland, so no cool bringback story or documents. The Camelot-Delvigne is sort of overlooked by most, but it was pretty advanced when it was made, being a large caliber single/double action revolver shooting a center-fire cartridge. The French used these all the way up through 1940, and the resistance put them through further use by converting some to .45 ACP when the standard 11mm couldn't be found.

A lot of other European countries copied the Camelot-Delvigne design when they adopted their own service revolvers. I included a picture of it next to my Italian M1889 Bodeo. A slight resemblance is there, but the M1874 Bodeo resembled the Mle. 1873 more.

This one was born in 1879 and hardly looks it's age for being 138 years old. They were finished in the white and not blued. The Mle. 1874 was the blued model. The side plate screw looks like it might be mismatched (can't remember if they used assembly numbers on some parts or not) but everything else matches. The cylinder timing is perfect and the bore is spotless also. I managed to find a box of 11mm French Ordnance ammo from the guy at the show who makes all the obsolete ammo. I can't wait to shoot it.

I'm anticipating all the usual French jokes..

Awesome gun! Congrats!!

French joke #1: Never been fired and only dropped once.

Very cool find!

The older French metallic cartridge revolvers are commanding good money these days, so I'm not the only one who thinks they're not a joke. I've never seen one of these, only the 1874 with blued finish (think there are two up for sale in upcoming auctions, very unusual). When I saw it on Andrew's table I knew you'd find a way to take it home with you. He does have a knack for finding nice stuff and is always reasonable on his pricing. Never felt I needed to haggle with him to get a good price. That was a very good find!

Thanks guys.

The Mle. 1874 is basically the same revolver except it's blued and has a fluted cylinder. They're far less common that the 330,000 or so Mle. 1873's that the French army bought. The French Navy also used several thousand Mle. 1874's that in some kind of funky 12mm round if I remember right. If you find one of those for a cheap price you've hit the jackpot.

I'll have to see if my revolver fits in the same original holsters as my Mle. 1892. I have a regular flap holster and some kind of shoulder holster for it.