Very unique and rare .450/.455 Webley swing out cylinder revolver

[mkrnel]

I reluctantly just sold this and never posted any info while I had it so thought I would share some pictures of it to the antique forum so those what to know about it will have a thread stored to refer to.

This is a high quality .450/.455 Webley Belgian made D.D. Levaux, swing out cylinder, and strong solid framed revolver. I never shot it and the revolver is in very good to excellent condition with an excellent bore (probably shot very little) and tight lockup, small cylinder to barrel gap and perfect function and is slightly larger than a Colt SAA in size with excellent walnut grips. My old Dominion .455 Colt/.455 Webley cases fit easily into the cylinder chambers and I show a .45 Schofield case as fitting almost (about 1/4" off from) as an example, but the cylinder is stamped .450.

For the benefit of those who may ask, they did when I was selling it, while the revolver looks small in comparison to my hands the reason is I am a very big guy with larger than normal hands (can never find gloves big enough to fit) and it is misleading to compare to revolver's size to them. It is a large solid six shot .45 cal revolver after all.

I have only ever seen one other in a private collection in Europe and in much smaller calibre and nowhere near as nice condition either after long searches on the internet.

This is a unique and way ahead of it's time Double Action antique revolver that is very seldom seen, it pre-dates the later French and American swing out cylinder revolvers, it may be the very first swing out cylinder revolver!

The mark of DD LEVAUX Bté indicates that it is an invention of the arms manufacturer of Cheratte Dieudonné LEVAUX-STAS and was the subject of patent 33.114 issued the date of 30.08.1873 as shown in the below copies of the original patent.

 

[kg]

Very interesting, Thank you!

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Mighty interesting thanks for posting that. I saw that one on the EE and was wondering about it. The old firearms patent documents I've found can be an interesting read and sometimes point you to some further research on a particular company and its key figures. Good work.

 

[nick237]

Do you regret selling it ?

 

[mkrnel]

Yes, but I know the buyer and he said he would give me the first option to buy it back if he chooses to sell it at a later date.

 

[plinker 777]

Point of interest. It's to be noted that there has been a significant change in the design between patent concept and production (it's a common occurrence but worth noting).

In the patent drawings the cylinder is stopped by a raised metal ratchet pawl type...in application however, the outside of the cylinder looks more to what we're accustomed to. Was the original design infringing on someone else's idea? Was the original cylinder design dropped because there was a more economically friendly solution? (less turning waste (material), less machining time?)