St Etienne 1873 French revolver

[Brewster20]

Hi there, I have a chance to acquire an 1873 St Etienne WW1 French revolver in very good condition. It's marked "1910" on the barrel. From what I read, its a 8mm Lebel. Would this be considered an antique, and is it valuable ? Condition is quite good.
Cheers

 

[Tyockell18]

Hi there, I have a chance to acquire an 1873 St Etienne WW1 French revolver in very good condition. It's marked "1910" on the barrel. From what I read, its a 8mm Lebel. Would this be considered an antique, and is it valuable ? Condition is quite good.
Cheers

It would be a model 1892 not 1873. The 1873's were not produced after 1884 I believe and refurbed ect. until 1887. The model 1892 was produced until 1924 and refurbed past then into the last 1920's. The model 1873/74's were never produced in 8mm lebel revolver cartridge, they were 11mm and some converted to .45acp or .455 webley ect.

If your barrel is dated 1910 and the Serial number does not start with F or possibly G followed by a very low digit number then you are looking at a restricted firearm.

In antique status the gun is worth $1000.00 plus in good shooting condition. If it's restricted status, 250-500 tops in my opinion.

 

[H Wally]

You'll need to do more reading and get some more info - no 1873's were in 8mm and many 1892's were made after 1898, so really there's not much help we can give with the info you have.


Wikipedia has a good basic breakdown on both the 1892 and 1873 MAS revolvers and the stickies on the top of the blackpowder and antique forum page have good explanations and copies of antique laws.

 

[Pete04]

I have a '73 French with a 1914 barrel. It is in the original cal.
I would check to see if maybe the seller is confused about the cal as some model 1873s were rebarreled for WWI

 

[Brewster20]

Here are some pics. What caliber and is it an antique ?
Thanks

 

[tiriaq]

With 1910 on the barrel, and that serial, it is not an antique.

 

[H Wally]

Yep. Not in super good condition either. Fun range toy though - $150-$200?

 

[Tyockell18]

It is 8mm lebel revolver cartridge and that gun is a restricted firearm unfortunately due to serial number.

 

[Steppenwolf]

Not the NRA definition of "very good" condition

 

[Clotho]

Yep. Not in super good condition either. Fun range toy though - $150-$200?

I think this is a good estimate. I purchased a very nice example for $250 just a few months ago from a dealer (shown below). It is in better condition than this one and also restricted.

I would bet that this one shoots fine however. Still best to get a professional opinion first of course.


L series serial number. Missing the lanyard ring like the OP's example.