The French government chose local versions of the Smith & Wesson M&P, of which the firms of Trocaola Aranzabal Y Cia, Garate y Anitua & Cia, Orbea Hermanos and others already had experience. Since Smith & Wesson and Colt’s patent protection did not extend to Spain in that period, these makers had long been producing local versions of American revolvers, including the Smith & Wesson topbreaks, the solid-frame M&P, Colt New Model Army & Navy, and the Colt Police Positive.
To respond to this need, many gunmakers in the Eibar valley in the Basque Country, started producing revolvers for the French. 330” jacketed bullet at about 740fps, which by British and American standards is anaemic. To avoid supply issues, the French insisted that revolvers offered must chamber their 8mm M92 revolver cartridge. Once it was clear that the first world war would go on for some time, the French government needed to find alternative sources of handguns to supplement the “modern” Model 1892 Saint-Etienne revolvers, often mis-named “Lebel” revolvers, and the older Model 1873 revolvers still in service. This is intended to be a technical article, however a brief potted history to set the stage is appropriate. 38-caliber S&W Military & Police revolver. Today’s post is a guest article written by Mike Burns, taking a look at one of the S&W revolver copies made in Eibar for the French military.
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