Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! As the title suggests I watched the 1990s The Mummy last night just for fun since it has been a long while and forgot how much of a gun movie it was. I say this in the sense of historical accuracy and inference to a greater story at hand. The Chamelot Delvigne 1873 makes an appearance in almost every scene being our protagonist’s main sidearms. Jumping into our revolver today, the Chamelot Delvigne 1873 was the first double-action revolver adopted by the French military, produced at the Saint-Étienne Arsenal from 1873-1887. Over 337,000 were made in 11mm caliber, with the Model 1874 being a lighter officer’s version. They were France’s first centerfire military handguns, with solid frames and side-loading gates. Though underpowered and soon replaced by the 1892 revolver, the 1873 remained in frontline use through WWI and was issued to reserves in WWII. It also saw service worldwide as French colonies expanded. Civilian versions were popular in France and Belgium. Reliable but lacking velocity, the Chamelot Delvigne 1873 represented France finally adopting a double-action revolver but not quite matching the pace with other militaries technologically. It served for decades as France modernized, becoming an emblem of French national identity. Resistance fighters utilized it against Nazi occupation, a testament to its ubiquity and reliability, if not its performance.
“The included French Model 1873 revolver would have been a fairly common sight in the French trenches during WWI and Stevenson records in the first mentioned work on that: “The regular equipment for charging now consists of two dynamite cartridges, six bombs, a knife, and a revolver: no guns at all.” The Model 1873 and other service revolvers of the period proved to be deadly weapons in the trenches and were preferably for the gruesome close quarters work of attempting to clear enemy trenches. This example is correctly finished “in the white” and has the matching serial number on most of the components. “Mle 1873” is marked on the top barrel flat and “S. 1876” is on the right flat. Additional markings include “Mre de Armes/St Etienne” on the right side of the frame and various French proofs. It has checkered grips, blade front and frame groove/notch sights, and a lanyard loop on the butt.”
Lot 195: St. Etienne 1873 Revolver 11 mm CF. (n.d.-a). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved March 1, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/64/195/st-etienne-1873-revolver-11-mm-cf.
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