Adams Revolver Questions

I picked this up from a Car Boot Sale here in the UK - Is it real, or a replica ?

  • a) Real?

    Votes: 7 100.0%
  • b) Replica?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7

Gooner

Cadet
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Location
Goldthorpe UK
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It may be a copy of the M1851 Adams with the later Kerr patent loading lever added. If it is a true Adams it will have ADAMS PATENT engraved on the left side of the revolver just below the cylinder and that is followed by an engraved number. Early Adams patent revolvers often have the maker or dealer engraved on the top flat over the cylinder. Unmarked copies may have been made in Belgium. Another identifying mark would be proof marks on the cylinder which -- if made in England -- would identify either Birmingham or London manufacture.

This is an unmarked "pocket size" copy in .33 caliber that I have and it has no proof marks at all.
Unmarked .33 revolver and mold.JPG


What you have is most likely of late 1850's manufacture and indeed REAL. The Adams M1851 was the first true double action revolver where squeezing the trigger cocked and fired the revolver without having to cock the hammer first.
 
When I wrote "copy" of an Adams I did not mean something made as a modern replica but rather a copy made during the 1850's and with no ADAMS PATENT number this would actually identify a patent infringement. European makers did this to avoid having to pay a "royalty" to Adams for making and selling a copy of their revolver.
 
Real Nice Boot Find.
 
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Super find! From a car boot sale? WOW!

Without question, you have a bona fide, authentic, 100% original antique Adams revolver, made in the 1850's. I am pretty sure that the loading lever is a latter add on. These early pistols had a separate lever that hooked on a nub ( where the screw is now) that would rotate and push the rammer to set the bullet/powder in the cylinder chamber.

Interestingly, some of William Tranter's first model revolvers used the frames of Adams (Tranter and Adams worked together for a while) that show serial #s in the 20,000 range (see accompanying picture). There is a GREAT article in the current NSTCW magazine (North South Trader Civil War) that shows some of the Tranters going to Southern ports and being engraved by southern retailers prior to and early on in the war. (Check the magazine cover picture. These are considered secondary, Confederate arms.) The largest one on the cover picture is an early Adams frame, like yours, but has the double trigger modification, characteristic of the early Tranter revolvers and not seen on Adams pistols.
 
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It may be a copy of the M1851 Adams with the later Kerr patent loading lever added. If it is a true Adams it will have ADAMS PATENT engraved on the left side of the revolver just below the cylinder and that is followed by an engraved number. Early Adams patent revolvers often have the maker or dealer engraved on the top flat over the cylinder. Unmarked copies may have been made in Belgium. Another identifying mark would be proof marks on the cylinder which -- if made in England -- would identify either Birmingham or London manufacture.

This is an unmarked "pocket size" copy in .33 caliber that I have and it has no proof marks at all.
View attachment 171485

What you have is most likely of late 1850's manufacture and indeed REAL. The Adams M1851 was the first true double action revolver where squeezing the trigger cocked and fired the revolver without having to cock the hammer first.
Thank you - It has Patent and a serial number on the right side, under the cylinder :smile:
 
T
View attachment 171542 View attachment 171543


Super find! From a car boot sale? WOW!

Without question, you have a bona fide, authentic, 100% original antique Adams revolver, made in the 1850's. I am pretty sure that the loading lever is a latter add on. These early Adams pistols had a separate lever that hooked on a nub ( where the screw is now) that would rotate and push the rammer to set the bullet/powder in the cylinder chamber.

Interestingly, some of William Tranter's first model revolvers used the frames of Adams (Tranter and Adams worked together for a while) that show serial #s in the 20,000 range (see accompanying picture). There is a GREAT article in the current NSTCW magazine (North South Trader Civil War) that shows some of the Tranters going to Southern ports and being engraved by southern retailers prior to and early on in the war. (Check the magazine cover picture. These are considered secondary, Confederate arms.) The largest one on the cover picture is an early Adams frame, like yours, but has the double trigger modification, characteristic of the early Tranter revolvers and not seen on Adams pistols.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me - I need to decide on my next move regarsing getting it sold ( We can't own weapons in the UK without a licence !! )
 
T

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me - I need to decide on my next move regarsing getting it sold ( We can't own weapons in the UK without a licence !! )

Which is probably why you found it where you did. Could you approach a collector's club or society to get the skinny on the sale of such ?
I'm guessing that you are not interested in keeping it in your collection, or at least the start of one ?
 
Which is probably why you found it where you did. Could you approach a collector's club or society to get the skinny on the sale of such ?
I'm guessing that you are not interested in keeping it in your collection, or at least the start of one ?
I'm looking into Uk Antique Licence Laws, and also Antique Dealers - If it's authentic, I will have to let it go I'm afraid !!
 
View attachment 171542 View attachment 171543


Super find! From a car boot sale? WOW!

Without question, you have a bona fide, authentic, 100% original antique Adams revolver, made in the 1850's. I am pretty sure that the loading lever is a latter add on. These early pistols had a separate lever that hooked on a nub ( where the screw is now) that would rotate and push the rammer to set the bullet/powder in the cylinder chamber.

Interestingly, some of William Tranter's first model revolvers used the frames of Adams (Tranter and Adams worked together for a while) that show serial #s in the 20,000 range (see accompanying picture). There is a GREAT article in the current NSTCW magazine (North South Trader Civil War) that shows some of the Tranters going to Southern ports and being engraved by southern retailers prior to and early on in the war. (Check the magazine cover picture. These are considered secondary, Confederate arms.) The largest one on the cover picture is an early Adams frame, like yours, but has the double trigger modification, characteristic of the early Tranter revolvers and not seen on Adams pistols.

Tranter 2nd model revolver serial number 20417Y. An early Tranter using an Adams frame.
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See Section 8: Antique Firearms

8.1. Section 58(2) of the 1968 Act exempts from the provisions of the Act – including certificate controls under sections 1 and 2 and prohibition under section 5 – all antique firearms which are sold, transferred, purchased, acquired or possessed as curiosities or ornaments. From 14 July 2014 section 110 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 amends section 58(2) of the 1968 Act and the effect is that section 21(prohibitions- see paragraph 5.9) and schedule 3 do apply to antique firearms.

8.2. This guide is based on the premise that public safety considerations are paramount, and those arms which are commonly used in crime should remain subject to certificate control and control of the authorities in respect of prohibited weapons. This is irrespective of how old the weapon is. Where an antique firearm is possessed for any other purpose than as a “curiosity or ornament”, all the provisions of the Firearms Acts from 1968 to 1997 will continue to apply, including those relating to certificate requirements. An indication of an intent to fire the gun concerned which may be signalled by the possession of suitable ammunition or even blank charge used for the purposes of historical re-enactment displays may well mean that the gun cannot be said to be held solely as an object of “curiosity or ornament”.

*
Old firearms which should benefit from exemption as antiques
8.9. Pre-1939 firearms to benefit from exemption as antiques are as follows:
(a) All muzzle-loading firearms;

*
8.10. The exemption does not apply to ammunition, and the possession of live ammunition suitable for use with an otherwise antique firearm may indicate that the firearm is not possessed as a curiosity or ornament.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa..._on_Firearms_Licensing_Law_April_2016_v20.pdf

No caps, no balls & no powder should mean no problem.

Keeping it locked up and not talking about it might be a good idea, lest someone wet their panties.
 
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