A mystery pistol masterpiece of design - but who made it?

[ccdjg]

I have putting this pistol on the back burner while, having been busy writing the second edition of my book. Now that is all sorted I would like to bring it out into the light of day and ask for identification opinions. Not long back I acquired the pistol as an old, rusty, garage find, and it had a design that I had never come across before. After dismantling and close inspection, I could say with some confidence that it was made in Britain, most likely in the 1920’s, or possibly early 1930’s, and was a prototype. It does have a maker’s mark, but I do not want to say anything about that at present, as there is the possibility that the inscription could be fake, and added later to in order to add value to an otherwise unknown gun. I want to present all the details about the pistol first, and then ask everyone’s opinion about a possible maker, prior to disclosing the inscribed name. In that way I can get an overall unbiased view.

This is the gun with the rust and dirt removed. The breech-surround is dovetailed for a rear sight, but the sight blade is missing, otherwise the pistol is complete and fully functional.



It is a concentric model, with a deeply rifled 0.177 steel barrel, and has a similar grip-cocking action to the Highest Possible, Tell 2, Acvoke and Thunderbolt Jr pistols. However, the design has many significant and highly inventive differences to those pistols, which can be summarized as follows:


1. Unlike the Highest Possible, Tell 2 etc., it is unique in not using the trigger guard as the cocking link. Instead the trigger guard is fixed and the pistol uses a separate forked link that straddles it.





The cocking link is skillfully forged from carbon steel as a single unit, and heat hardened. Such a precise forging would be something well beyond the capabilities of an amateur:



2. Again uniquely, the trigger guard is made of spring steel and its front end is fixed to the sear, so that it acts as the sear spring, and keeps the sear of the one-piece trigger/sear unit pressed against the piston. Both ends of the trigger guard are specially shaped, and they mesh beautifully with cut-outs sections in the sear and frame, as can be seen here (note that the sear pin has been removed):




The trigger guard can be removed easily if needed, by sliding it laterally out of the shaped slots, but once it is in place, no amount of longitudinal movement is ever going to make it come adrift. This deceptively simple method of fixing shows considerable machining skill and attention to detail. No screws or pins needed!

3. The breech closure is unique for an air pistol and consists of a swing down breech block, with a thumb-lever operated cam, so that any wear in the leather breech seal can be taken up by thumb pressure. This unit is both intricate and exceptionally well- engineered. Note that the breech block has a built-in pellet seater, and that both sides of the thumb lever have been chequered. Such attention to detail smacks of real professionalism.







4. Another innovative design feature is the spring loaded detent catch which locks the action rigidly in place (none of the other grip-cocking pistols have anything similar). Instead of being a normal type of detent, uniquely it is double-ended. The other end simultaneously applies spring pressure against the rear of the trigger, so that the detent unit serves two functions.





5. The air transfer unit also shows great attention to detail. The rear cylinder end has four air transport holes, and a steel plate that screws onto it has four sloping channels machined into it that guides the four jets of compressed air directly behind the pellet:






6. Unlike any other pistol I know of, the piston head with its leather seal is threaded into the piston body. This is an interesting refinement, but would have added to the complexity of the manufacturing sequence, and I don’t actually see what advantages it would have.




From an overall economy of design, I found the pistol to be quite amazing, and unlike any other I can think of. A LOT of thought has gone into it.

The whole pistol is held solidly together by the two grip plate screws. When the grip plates are removed, there are three large diameter pivot pins holding all the moving parts of the action together. One pin serves a dual function as pivot for the grip and for the trigger/sear. A second pin acts as the cocking link pivot, and the third pin is the pivot for the drop-down breech block. These pins are a sliding fit, and can be pushed out by hand, their large diameter ensuring there is no play, and when the grip pates are screwed in place, the pins cannot move. As a result, it is the only pistol I know where the action can be disassembled in just two minutes using only a screwdriver.
The piston and spring can be removed by unscrewing the cylinder front plug, which like the Acvoke has two holes to accept a pin spanner.

This shows the disassembled pistol and the locations of the three pins:





So my question is, given all these unique innovations in the design, the skilled workmanship in constructing the pistol, and the close attention to small details, who, or which company, do you think might have made it?

(For those of you who might already know the maker’s name inscribed on the gun, please don’t give the game away yet.)

Many thanks,
John

[ali d]

It looks to me like elements of a Brown and sons Abas Major or possibly Wesley Richards certainly it is well engineered.

[Jerry Cornelius]

I suppose the obvious suspicion/hope must be a connection to Frank Clarke. There’s something about that breech seal arrangement, and we know he was keen on concentric designs. Assuming it is indeed factory made and not a brilliant apprentice piece, and that does seem a reasonable assumption, you need a creative british airgun designer with an interest in concentric pistols who might have produced a piece leaving no known written records

Put like that FC would seem to be a reasonable theory at least.

[ptdunk]

That's a great piece of engineering, the breech assembly alone is a work of art.

The lock up reminds me of the later Webley Service rifle.

I'd have to agree with Frank Clarke as a contender, only a true air pistol Maestro could come up with something like that.
Also the trigger & trigger guard shape really reminds me of the Warrior Pistol.

Maybe the threaded seal unit was to try a variety of seals or piston lengths....

Very nice pistol, thanks for sharing,
Matt

[Garvin]

Beautiful! Is it a Lincoln Jeffries?

[Epicyclic]

There are design elements that bring certain makers to mind as mentioned by some above.
I am guessing Greener as this one seems to be an imaginative, incorporative, and comprehensive re- think with engineering flair.

[ggggr]

It may not be the best looking thing, but it looks like someone has sat down with the Tell etc and really thought about things. If that is a home made pistol, it was made by someone with a lot of skill and also a bit of sense. It looks like they have been trying to engineer faults out and use less parts if possible. That cocking arm is a good idea and looks well made. The whole end of the gun with the loading tap looks really well made.

I think the thing that lets it down from a practical side is a direct trigger to the piston.
What bore is the cylinder?
Also (if it is not too much trouble, another pic would be good) is the piston washer held on by a screw or is the washer put on the piston head and the head screwed into the piston body?

[Jerry Cornelius]

.
I think the thing that lets it down from a practical side is a direct trigger to the piston.

That and the cocking arm (albeit backwards) put me in mind of the Haenel 28.

I assume we know this is british because of thread sizes or some such?

[urx]

A very interesting piece you have there.
Really glad you rescued it from that garage.

[trajectory]

Concentric barrelled pistols have always interested me, not too sure exactly why but maybe it's because they are so different from the more commonly encountered over lever or break barrel designs that you see more frequently. Undoubtedly there are design issues with them that have been resolved in various ways throughout their evolution & some were better than others but this example is very interesting as it shows both a good understanding of the issues that the design inherrantly has ss well as demonstrating well engineered solutions. As to who might have made it, well I can only think of those already mentioned like Clarke, AABrown etc but with a possible dating ti the inter war years I'd like to think it might have been a design BSA were contemplating putting into production at some point. There again it looks a bit Ackvoke'ish, albeit a well engineered one, maybe a for runner of it that was altered a fair bit for post war production with the materials shortages / tooling shortages. It will be interesting to hear who it might be attributable to.
Still strikes me as odd that BSA never put an air pistol into production until so late on.

[micky2]

Hi John, what a great find and a very well engineered pistol. it reminds me of a rifle that came up at auction a few years ago, which if memory serves me well it had similar features. and was stamped with Westley Richards. so l am going for them.

[ccdjg]

I think the thing that lets it down from a practical side is a direct trigger to the piston.
What bore is the cylinder?
Also (if it is not too much trouble, another pic would be good) is the piston washer held on by a screw or is the washer put on the piston head and the head screwed into the piston body?

Thanks guy.

The trigger is actually very good for some reason. Far better than say the Warrior, which also has a one-piece trigger/sear.

The cylinder bore is about 0.88" (22mm) (the threaded end makes exact measurement difficult). More interesting. the external diameter is 1.00" exactly, which is one of the reasons I am convinced that this is a British-made pistol.

Here are some pics of the piston head. It is machined from a single piece of steel and the leather washer appears be a band forced over the head into a groove. (The leather is crumbling so I did not want to try to remove it). The two holes on the face of the piston head are not for screws and are blind, and must be just for removing the head with a pin spanner.

[Garvin]

Silly me! I've just realised why this pistol looks so familiar - it turned up on the old now-disappeared airgun forum. A reminder of why it's so important to back up all information on old airguns if it's in digital form, so when experts like ccdjg aren't here anymore to update their reference books, the information must survive for future generations...

[Garvin]

Seeing it again, there's no way it could be a fake, surely. Not with so many innovations packed in like that. An amateur may come up with one, or even two, but not that many.

PS glad you bought it, John and thanks for sharing those fascinating insights!

[Epicyclic]

This is a fabulous pistol. The more I study the photos, read the comments from other members and have a think about it, the better it gets!
The trigger design could be improved by way of an independent sear and the trigger-guard made thicker and sculpted as it would no longer be employed as a spring.
I'd also angle and re-style the grip, although it does need to be relatively upright to perform its arc-forming cocking stroke. Similar in orientation to the grip- cocking designs mentioned in previous posts.

Back to what it is though, being the theme of this thread discussion- not how it could be 'developed'!...

You mention John, the possibility that the inscription could be faked in order to confer enhanced value.
In the absence of documentation this has to be considered.
The faker is putting it out there to challenge the records the motive being profiteering, mischief-making, or both.
Enhanced value would be maximised by using illustrious names such as Westley Richards, Cogswell and Harrison and Greener. I use these examples as being widely known makers of good shotguns who have had minor and short-lived but eclectic, high-end dabblings with airguns.
A speculator at auction or wherever, not expert in either field would nonetheless know these makers and may feel comfortable in paying more.
Would greater value be conferred by Frank Clarke, BSA, LJ et al?...
Am I correct in believing that BSA made some weird and wonderful prototypes, or pieces that are widely acknowledged to be from the factory and left them un-marked? as did Webbo?...would they annoint some prototypes and not others? An unanswerable question...Maybe workers would nab a prototype and stamp it at home in which case it would be the real deal but not 'sanctioned' by their employers.
Was it standard factory practice to have their identity on tested products destined for market only, not something under test that may or had failed?
Would prototypes be made with the intention of destroying them or putting them un-marked in a locked room if they did not make the grade- maybe unearthed years later to be sold, as Webley did back-along

A forensic examination of the lettering is helpful.

Oh dear!...That's got me thinking about your LP52 Danny...