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Firing the foot-long Austro-Hungarian 11mm M1870 Gasser revolver (VIDEOS)

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Chambered for an impressive 11.25x36mm black powder carbine cartridge, Herr Leopold Gasser’s giant revolver was a hit in its era.

Leopold scratched his head and in 1870 patented an open-frame revolver that was simply a barrel, trigger housing, broomstick grip, and rotating cylinder fed through a rear gate. Revolutionary for its time, it was double-action. Keep in mind that the best revolvers of the U.S. Civil War, just five years before, were single-action cap and ball revolvers.

While it was advanced for its day, by the Great War the big Gasser was obsolete, however, as discussed in great detail in the above video from Othais and Mae at C&Rsenal, the M1870 and its related steel-framed M1870/74 descendant did see service in that conflict. Further cultural references to the giant smokepole in everything from dozens of films and TV shows to video games (Fallout 4 even had a Gasser mod), means the gun continues to find fans although it has long been out of production.

For a second look at these interesting hog legs, Ian McCollum with Forgotten Weapons in the below video chronicles a pair of very natty Gassers that recently came up for auction.

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