Handguns Freeman Army Model, cal. .44, revolver

drmessimer

Cadet
Joined
Dec 12, 2019

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This example of of a Freeman Army Model, cal. .44, revolver belonged to a distant cousin, David Luthor Weamer, who was a member of Captain Weaver’s Independent Mounted Company, (100-days), Pennsylvania Volunteers. As the name implied, the initial enrollment was for 100 days, but at some time during the enrollment period (Aug.-Sep. 1864), the 100 days became one year and the company designation became Weaver’s Independent Mounted Company Pennsylvania Volunteers (One Year, 1864-1865). They mustered out August 4, 1865. The men in Weaver’s Independent Mounted Company were issued the Freeman Army Model, cal. .44, revolver that was patented on 9 December 1862, No. 37,091, by Austin T. Freeman and manufactured at Hoard’s Armory in Water Town New York. It was a Percussion, 6-shot, single-action, solid-frame revolver with blued finish, a casehardened ramming lever and hammer, and one-piece walnut grips. It had a seven-and-a-half-inch round-barrel. Approximately 2,000 were manufactured between 1863 and 1864.Though not a successful a pistol in terms of sales, it was more practical than many of the percussion revolvers of that era. A unique feature of the Freeman was the quick-removable cylinder. The gun had a two-part cylinder-pin that was removed by pushing forward a slide on the right side of the frame and in front of the cylinder. The empty cylinder could then be lifted out of the left side of the gun and a loaded cylinder put in its place. Unfortunately, the device is missing from this particular gun, having been dismantled by my older brother, and lost many years ago.

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This pistol has been in the family since 1863. It was restored to its present condition in 2016 and is now displayed on my desk. Dwight



 
VERY Nice piece with a GREAT history. Thanks for sharing it with us.
 
Welcome! A fantastic heirloom! Thanks for sharing! I can relate to the "older brother" dismantling firearms (clocks, etc.). Unfortunately, usually, that was me!
Looking forward to your perspective in our discussions! Enjoy!
 
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As i,after a LOT of trouble,took deliver of my Freeman a few years back i soon enough realized it needed a little help. Being gun savy in its own right,but the thing here is that the Freeman revolvers do NOT work as you average Colt or Remington within.

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Indeed,depressing the little plunger makes very short work of removing the cylinder on these.

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Cylinder takes the "regular" 225-32 nipples and these are installed at a slight angle,like on the Remingtons et al. As is clear to be seen,cylinders carry the serial too. In this case 1906
It has been said that approx 2000 of these were made in 1863 and 64 which might very well be on the money. Fact is that Hoards armory ran into trouble and the machines used to make these Freeman revolvers were sold to the R&S company,and thus are a part of the later fabled Roger&Spencer revolver.

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Another rather characteristic difference vs most other revolvers of the time is the use of a trapeeze thread for the barrel. As the rest of them it lacks forcing cone et al, what we today regard as parts of a revolver design.

Mine didn´t work but..being an engineer after all i just sat down and looked at how the various pts interacted and it soon enough became evident enough for me the fab what was needed,and presto..we had ourselves a working Freeman again.

One MAJOR culprit though was that the rifling of the gun was basically gone. Or?

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...no. No it was not. As i took to clean the barrel out it simply wouldn´t stop producing crud n soot. So,got tired of that and went at it the more "hardcore" way. Barrel in the vise and..heat. From a torch. The thing lit up like friggin 4th of july,it was that dirty within.
Lo n behold...rifling.
What i presume had happend was that someone less into blackpower had used petroleum products for grease. Thus,"caking" the entire thing up long run. The rifling that came to show was rather rough,but at least present and i´m happy to report that as this is a few years since..the thing has cleaned up as good can be expected by simply using it.

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Uhu. Both the stock lock and front sight are rather minescule to size. No doubt. The former had been gorilla´d in place by someone i guess as it was soldered on there,threads still there. Anyways..

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Having the gun back together,having slugged it and the full 9 yrds it not only works once again it actually prints very well. Yes. This is a "50 points gun" at 25m,no doubt.
At the top of the absolute rear of the trigger guard is a small pin showing. This holds a small "fill in" piece onto the frame,where the cutout for the hand was made.
This..is very very often missing sry to say. Here you can also clearly see the lock setup for the plunger for the cylinder retention.

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So? What can be said that aside? Well. First up the thing feels WAY more modern as far as ergonomics than the regular Colt,Remington,Starr or what have you not. Nimble almost,seeing what time frame we´re talking here.
Its stock 7,5" barrel is ample,and tapered to boot as you can see. All in all this makes the thing WAY less nose heavy than a regular Remmy for instance.
Owning several of these old warhorses it becomes rather interesting to compare them so...

That said...
 
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..friend Anders called me up one day and told that he´d gotten his mittens on a Freeman! About as scarce as hens teeth. This one broken too,which i knew how to remedy,and from the looks of it having lived a way harder life than my own.

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Indeed. Wrong stocks,had been nickel plated and what not. Action didn´t work,and the list goes on and on.. Also notice that that small "fill in piece" i speak of above was of course missing.
But...no matter. Two of these coming together on a work bench like a 155yrs later,what are the odds?

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Took the thing apart,and sure enough.."Mr Handyman" had been at it. It truly escapes me why some people will refrain from taking advice from those in the know. Look at that hand..and bolt.
Really?
In turn the mainspring from a Remmy that had been cut down. Yeah. Good luck with that. But..be that as it may the mainstay of the gun was there at least so i set forth..

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Indeed. An entire excenter missing,a few springs and what not.

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There ya go. That´s how a STOCK hand for a Freeman is supposed to look. This then off of my own gun.

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A few screws were missing,so those i had to make.

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Yep. Even the "fill in piece" is numbered on these guns. But as i had an original making a copy (sans serial) wasn´t the end of the world. Just a piece of mild steel and let the tools have at it.

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Ah. Yes. The bolt for my own gun at the bottom,and the copy i made (still in the rough) ontop.

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Oh..The lovely look n smell of blackpowder. After what seemed loads of work the piece indeed DID work again,why i took it to the range (together with my own).
Came to index and work as was it new again. :D

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But hey! What about that missing main spring? Well...friend Mike runs a small forge for SnG. It just so happens that he´s taken on making "unobtanium". In this case..mainsprings for Roger&Spencer revolvers. To make these..he has a guy that serves him with raw material,which that there in the pic is.
Swedish spring steel..laser cut to size,which was EXACTLY what the Dr ordered. As we had an original (mine) Mike simply made a copy and presto...

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All said and done i took to fabbing a fresh,FITTING,pair of stocks for the thing. Here at idle with a couple of its cousins. Stocks of course needs to be tainted,but..you get the idea.

Now for the real sad part in all of this. Anders came to need to raise funds why the revolver was dropped off at a local auction house. As it didn´t sell for what was expected it remained at the auction house,and as luck has it the place was robbed. The revolver vanishing with the crooks in case.
In short this very very scarce Freeman is at this point still at large. Might be a good thing for others out there to know.
 
Believe that I can in a way, relate to drmessimer and his love for restoring the Freeman pistols.

I may have a "new found hobby". This past year, I discovered an 1863 Bridesburg contract musket that was in such poor condition that it had virtually no collector value. I purchased the rifle for $500 and after spending just a couple months of spare time manual effort, I now have a great looking shooter and display piece.

Two weeks ago, I came across a literal "barn find" Burnside Carbine. This one is in even rougher shape externally. Thus, my conscience does not hinder me at all performing a restoration on it. The bottom of the wooden stock was just about rotted off. But all the rusty mechanical parts are all there and in fine working order. Even the rifling in the bore looks good.

This second time around however, I've had to invest a little additional money to procure a reproduction stock, forearm, and butt plate. But these parts were easy to locate and cheap for a $120. A little wooden stock in-letting, drilling, hand sanding, wood finishing, metal polishing, and bluing is all that will be required.

These are fun and easy projects that beat the hell out of watching television at home in the evenings.
 
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