Dating 8mm "Le Municipal"

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smellie

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I have a French revolver which I know was used in the Great War by a Major in the French Army. It is a genuine 3-owner gun, of which I am the third owner. I have had it for 40-odd years now.

The gun was built by the "Manufacture d'Armes et Cycles" at St. Etienne, France, and is a 6-shot revolver in 8mm Lebel calibre.

It is NOT a Model 1892 military type.

A letter from the factory, many years ago, said that it was an "1892 de manufacture civil": a civilian Model 1892, although it is entirely a different gun. For one thing, it has no positive lock to prevent the cylinder being rotated by hand!

The gun itself is barrel-marked "Le Municipal", so I can only assume that it was intended for Police service, even though it ended up in the trenches.

It is a solid-frame revolver with a rod ejector on a pivot. When not being used, the rod ejector rides inside the cylinder arbor. Pulling out the rod ejector and then the cylinder arbor allows the cylinder to come out into your hand.

The serial number is concealed by the grips, not out in the open for all to see, as with the regular 1892. Serial on this gun is 14xxMM.

Can anybody assign a date to this critter, or even tell me where I can go to find out?

Thanks much. cou:
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Here is one being sold by Kristopher Kasior. But his prices are always ridiculous high!

DESCRIPTION: The revolver was made by Manufacture Francaise d'Armes et Cycles de Saint-Etienne, as indicated by markings on the right side of the frame. The right side of the frame also shows the French National Police issue markings, "PN 72" (please, see pictures). The left side of the frame displays following markings, "Brichet B-te Nantes" and "L" in the shield. This is a typical French police revolver from the early 20th century. Le Municipal was introduced in 1906, and was purchased by many French police organizations. The revolver was built in 8 mm French caliber (1892), which was used at the time by the French military.

French site confirms date of Introduction of 1906, so it is not an Antique. Basically developped for sale to Police Force.

http://www.academie-des-armes-anciennes.com/mag12.html
 
From the other pics it seems like a french version of the belgian Bulldog "knockoffs". I personally quite like them. They're simple, solid and functional.

As a side note - with the versions I've seen it's possible to add a Starr style cylinder lock to stop the cylinder from rotating and solidly index it when fired. If you're interested I'll try to explain.
 
Guys, I thank you for your speedy and informative replies.

I now have a 'start' date: 1906. This is a great deal more than I had one day ago.

Winter is coming on here and I am not looking forward to it one little bit. At least I now have a 'project': getting the old Municipal ready fror a Spring shoot.

Thanks again.

H Wally: quite agree with your evaluation: simple, solid, functional. Cylinder locks up solid when the trigger is pressed; release the trigger, though, and it will rotate by hand-power. Interesting design. It uses a flat spring on the outside of the cylinder arbor and parallel with it to provide friction so the cylinder does not rotate all by itself.

If anyone has experience loading this cartridge, it would be very nice to hear from them. This is a new one to me, at least from the handloading point of view.
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smellie said:
Guys, I thank you for your speedy and informative replies.

I now have a 'start' date: 1906. This is a great deal more than I had one day ago.

Winter is coming on here and I am not looking forward to it one little bit. At least I now have a 'project': getting the old Municipal ready fror a Spring shoot.

Thanks again.

H Wally: quite agree with your evaluation: simple, solid, functional. Cylinder locks up solid when the trigger is pressed; release the trigger, though, and it will rotate by hand-power. Interesting design. It uses a flat spring on the outside of the cylinder arbor and parallel with it to provide friction so the cylinder does not rotate all by itself.

If anyone has experience loading this cartridge, it would be very nice to hear from them. This is a new one to me, at least from the handloading point of view.
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Click to expand...

The 8mm is pretty easy to load, you make the brass from .32WCF. Just don't buy REMINGTON brass to shorten! Like most of their stuff, it's crappy, and cases split after just one or two firings. Use W-W brass, or, Better yet, Starline. You can buy bullets from Mysticplayer.
 
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