The original Gasser revolver was made in 1870 for the Austro-Hungarian cavalry and took the same round as their Fruwirth carbine. I guess this did not work out too well as the carbine load was too heavy for the revolvers and tended to blow them up. Ultimately they reduced the length of the cartridge and also improved the steel on the frame. This ugly monster was cutting edge at the time. Think about it, a double action metallic cartridge military revolver in 1870. At some point King Nicholas I of Montenegro declared that all male citizens were part of the militia and had both the right and responsibility to own a Gasser style revolver. This caused a bit of a rush on these revolvers and a number of European countries hastily manufactured Gasser type revolvers. Most notably Belgium. The revolver pictured is a Belgian "copy" of a Gasser revolver. Many of these guns became status symbols for their owners, wealthy individuals commissioned revolvers with engraving, fancy grips and even inset jewels.
As always my first instinct is to want to shoot the old smoke pole. The Montenegrin Gasser was once featured in an article entitled " The Top Five Guns That You Cannot Afford to Shoot". Now that is a challenge if I have ever heard one. Traditionally they have a groove diameter of .445, mine slugged at .442. Some have reported .449 as quite common. Some have also reported firing the .45 Colt brass as is with a .451 soft lead bullet. Other candidates as a parent case are the 7.62X54R and the .45/70. The case length is 1.40. Supposedly if you cut a 7.62X54R case to length, reduce the rim diameter to .555 and then just size it will work. I tried a .45 Colt case and although the case fit perfectly the rim diameter and thickness were small. I was not too concerned with the diameter, but the thinness of the rim left a gap. I fired a couple of primers to see if it could work and although they did go bang the primers blew back out of the case because of the gap. Not having any 7.62X54R I decided to play with the .45/70.
First step was to cut a case to the appropriate length. I used my newly acquired 2" chop saw for that purpose. Cutting the brass to just a hair over 1.40 (BTW: I love this chop saw).
Next I annealed the case and ran it up into a .45 Colt sizing die. This pushed some brass down to the base of the case just above the rim. I then used a Dremel to grind off the excess and to reduce the diameter of the rim. Very slow work. I then used a case trimmer to get exactly 1.40" length. Pretty sloppy looking, but functional. It took 2 hours to make 5 cases.
Next I needed a bullet. The original was a 280 - 300gr lead bullet. I had nothing close to the right diameter or weight. So I improvised. I took a 200 gr. soft lead heeled bullet that I use in my 11mm French Ordnance Revolver. See below.
At it's thickest diameter it is .450 and the base below tapers down to about .435. I ran the bullet into a .446 sizing die for an 11mm Mauser rifle bullet and when I measured it the diameter was .445. So I figured that the groove diameter measured at .442 and the .445 diameter at the widest part of the bullet was actually a very narrow band with a much smaller diameter above and below that band. Thought it might work. I figured that the soft lead narrow band would shave off pretty easily when it met the .442 bore. Close enough for government work (LOL!)
OK, so now I had 5 pieces of brass and I sized 5 bullets. Time to load. I ran the case up into the .45 Colt sizing die again and seated a large magnum rifle primer. I poured 30 grs, (by weight) of Goex 2F black powder down an 18" drop tube into the case and compressed it slightly with a dowel. Next was a .030 vegetable fiber wad, a grease cookie (no lube grooves on the bullet) and another wad. I then seated the bullet just up to the widest portion using the .45 Colt seating die. Finally I used a Lee factory crimp die to hold the bullet in. The beauty of black powder is that you fill the case with a slight compression so the bullet sits right on top of the powder (or wad) so the undersized bullet does not just fall down into the case like it would with smokeless powder. Below is the final result.
Woo hoo, now it is range time. I hit the range with some amount of trepidation. Praying for boom with no ka-boom. I squeezed off my 5 rounds with the gun, my digits and face still intact. To quote the late great Marty Robbins in his song Mr. Shorty "the .44 spoke, and it said lead and smoke and 17" of flame"!!!!
Now I would love to tell you about the stellar results and the beautiful group that I shot. But here is the truth. I put a 12" shoot n c target on a 3' X 4' piece of new cardboard at about 25 feet. The target and the cardboard all escaped injury. I did not hit a blessed thing. I did get that almost 150 year old revolver to go bang again and had a great time getting there. This one may just get relegated to the safe as a curiosity to show people. Or I may invest in some better brass and the right bullet mold. I am not sure.
By the way since I wrote this post initially I have acquired a 300 gr mold from Accurate Molds that Tom made for me. I also now have a Sherline 4000 mini lathe which helps me to make perfect brass for this old thumper. I still will not shoot this particular revolver much as I feel it is poorly made. I am in the middle of acquiring a really nice Austrian made Gasser.
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