This is a FINE condition example of a rare Double Trigger Double Action Commercial German Model 1883 Ordnance Revolver by Dreyse. The more common military variant of the gun that this one was derived from is better known simply as the M83 Reichsrevolver. It is interesting to note that until 1879 and the adoption of the M79 Reichsrevolver, the direct ancestor to the M83, the standard military handguns in use by the Prussians and most of the other German kingdoms and states were primarily single shot, percussion muzzleloading pistols. Even though the Prussian military had been using incredibly advanced bolt action Dreyse needle rifles since their introduction in 1841, they felt little need to improve the handguns of their cavalry, instead relying upon the lance and saber as their primary weapons, rather than the repeating cartridge handguns that had become a standard weapon for most western cavalry regiments by the early 1870s. With the exception of some Colt Model 1851 “Navy” percussion revolvers acquired by the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), the late 1870s found the state of Germanic military handguns firmly entrenched in the 1840s! A small handful of revolvers did see use with some of the Germanic states, like the Saxon M73 Revolver based upon the Smith & Wesson No 1 ½, but these were exceptions and not the norm. 

The M79 Reichsrevolver was developed as the standard military handgun for use by the militaries of the four German kingdoms: Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. It was a 6-shot, single action revolver with a 7 1/8” round barrel with a small octagonal section at the frame juncture, and a reinforcing ring at the muzzle, often referred to as a “cannon” barrel. The guns were rather attractive with a deep chocolate colored rust browned finish. The revolver incorporated a safety lever on the left side of the frame and had a lanyard ring in the butt cap. The revolver was chambered for the German 10.6x25R centerfire cartridge. The cartridge was loaded with a 262-grain lead bullet of about .44 caliber, propelled by a black powder charge with a muzzle velocity of 700 fps and 288 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy. The 10.6x25R is often compared to the S&W .44 Russian cartridge, which is nearly identical in size and power, and was initially produced by Ludwig Loewe & Company; the predecessor of DWM. The M79 was produced by three primary manufacturers. These were Gebrüder Mauser & Cie, who supplied the kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg, Franz V. Dreyse who supplied the kingdoms of Prussia and Bavaria, and the Suhl consortium of arms makers consisting of Spangenberg & Sauer, V.C. Schilling & Cie and C.G. Haenel & Cie, who supplied Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony. The M79 revolver remained in production from its adoption in 1879 through 1883, with a total of 84,931 being produced. 

In 1883, a more refined variant of the revolver was adopted as the M83 Reichsrevolver. The new gun retained the same basic design, with a single action mechanism and was still chambered for the 10.6mm x 25R cartridge. The most obvious change was the shortening of the barrel to 4 ¾” and the elimination of the cannon swell at the muzzle. The grip frame was also redesigned, making it somewhat more rounded and increasing the grip angle in relationship to the muzzle, and eliminating the buttcap on the bottom of the grip. Interestingly, the most deficient portion of the M79 design, the lack of an extraction or ejection system, was not addressed in the M83. Most M83 revolvers were blued rather than browned, and in the case of commercially produced guns for the private purchase of officers, the finish was often very impressive, rivaling that of Colt revolvers of the same period. A total of 132,656 M83 Ordnance Revolver were produced between 1883 and 1896. The large majority of the guns were manufactured by the Royal Prussian Armory at Erfurt, where some 95,000 of the guns (about 72%) of the guns were produced over a 13-year period. Of those revolvers, the majority (92,500) were destined for issue to the Prussian military and the remaining 2,500 were issued to the state of Württemberg. Three contractors also produced the guns, the Suhl Consortium (V.C. Schilling and C.G. Haenel of Suhl), Waffenfabrik von Dreyse of Sömmerda and Gebrüder Mauser & Company of Oberndorf. The Suhl Consortium manufactured 22,296 (about 17%), Dreyse manufactured 13,860 (about 10%) and Mauser manufactured 1,500 (about 1%) of the M83 Ordnance revolvers produced. Of the guns produced by the Suhl consortium, 10,000 were delivered to the state of Prussia, 7,296 were delivered to the state of Bavaria and 5,000 were delivered to the state of Saxony. The Dreyse guns were delivered to the states of Prussia (13,000) and Bavaria (860) and the Mauser guns were all delivered to the state of Württemberg. These large and well-made revolvers remained the primary issue handgun to German state military forces (along with the earlier M79 Ordnance Revolver) until 1908, when they were superseded by the Parabellum-Pistole 1908, better known simply as “The Luger”. Even though the Luger officially replaced the M79 and M83 revolvers, these guns remained in use through the World War I era, mostly with second line and reserve troops. Unit marked revolvers are encountered from time to time, allowing the identification of the unit to which the gun was issued. Although considered obsolete by World War II, some M79 and M83 Reichsrevolvers are reported to have seen use by the French resistance during the Nazi occupation. The Germans even pulled some Reichsrevolvers out of mothballs at the end of World War II, during the fight for Berlin. 

The M83 was also produced in small quantities in a commercial variant. These guns were not a part of any official military contracts and were intended for sale to the “public”, although most of the customers were actually German officers who were acquiring their own sidearms. The most obvious difference between the majority of these “commercial” M83s and the military contract ones was a higher grade of finish. The commercial guns often had a highly polished blue finish and were usually equipped with checkered instead of smooth wood grips. A very small minority of the commercial guns had other differences or upgrades from the standard military models. Some utilized a double action, rather than a single action lock mechanism. Of these, some were also “double trigger” guns. The double trigger guns were interesting, in that the front trigger operated the rotation of the cylinder and cocking of the hammer but did not really fire the gun. The rear trigger still fired the gun. The front trigger could be pulled far enough to strike the rear trigger and fire the revolver, or the front trigger could be used to simply index the cylinder and cock the hammer, leaving the gun ready to fire after the trigger was released. The rear trigger could then be pulled to fire the gun. The guns could also be used as single action revolvers with the hammer cocked manually and the revolver fired by pulling the rear trigger. The system was similar to the double action percussion revolver designs found on the Starr Model 1858 Revolver and 4^th Model Tranter Revolvers, where a sear lever was exposed at the rear of the triggerguard, which had to be tripped to fire the gun, with the “trigger” really only operating the indexing and cocking mechanism. Some of the commercial guns also included a patent ejector system, a feature extremely uncommon with M83 revolvers. Some included a sliding safety on the upper rear edge of the grip frame. A very small number were also produced in a reduced frame size, making them more convenient for discreet “pocket carry” and were likely popular not only with officers who did not want to carry a heavy, full-sized service revolver, but also with police working in plain clothes or anyone who wanted a more concealable pistol. These reduced size revolvers were usually chambered in the smaller and less powerful 380 Revolver caliber, similar to the .38 Smith & Wesson and the British .38/200 cartridge, rather than the larger 10.6mm service cartridge.

One of the rarer versions of these “commercial” M83 revolvers produced was the Double Trigger Double Action Commercial German Model 1883 Ordnance Revolver as offered here. This scarce revolver remains in about FINEoverall condition. It is a double action revolver with the rare, additional trigger; a feature that collectors refer to as a “double trigger” M83. As noted, the forward trigger is a conventional double action trigger however the rear trigger actually trips the sear. The front trigger rotates and indexes the cylinder and cocks the hammer. Then pulling the forward trigger all the way to the rear it bumps the rear trigger and fires the gun. The gun can also be manually cocked than then fired in a single action mode, either by pulling the rear trigger or pulling the forward trigger far enough back to trip the rear trigger. The revolver has the standard frame mounted safety lever found on the military M79 and M83 revolvers. The revolver was produced by one of the smaller makers of M83 Revolvers, FV Dreyse Sömmerda. The lower left side of the frame, below the cylinder, is marked with oval makers cartouche of the Dreyse firm which reads:

F.v. DREYSE

SOMMERDA

The revolver is serial number 1991 and that number is found throughout the gun, or at least the last two digits, “91”, are found on the smaller parts. The full serial number is found on the left side of the barrel at the octagonal section, on the rear face of the cylinder, and on the top flat of the cylinder arbor pin’s head. The partial serial number “91” is found on the left side of the grip frame, under the grips, on the heads of all the frame and grip screws, on the left side of the front trigger’s web, on the cylinder arbor pin release button, on the grip escutcheons of each grip and stamped inside both grips. The partial number “991” is found on the inside face of the loading gate. A pair of {CROWN}/V Imperial German commercial proof marks are found the left side of the gun, one on the left barrel flat and one on the left frame flat that the barrel screws into. As usual, the chambers of the cylinder are numbered from 1 to 6. The interiors of the grips have some interesting old markings in old ink. The right grip has the name A.D. TAYLOR and the date 1953written in it. The left grip has a Star of David drawn inside it and three Japanese kanji characters that I cannot translate. The name suggests that the revolver was liberated by A.D. Taylor during World War II, but from wear is in question, as the Star of David suggests maybe it came from the European Theater by the kanji suggest the revolver may have been recovered in the Japanese home islands. Trying to go down the rabbit holes to figure this out might be a fun research project for the new owner. 

This M83 Commercial Revolver measures about 10 ½” in overall length with a 4 5/8” barrel and a 1 ½” long, 6-shot fluted cylinder. The bore of the revolver is rifled with 4 lands and grooves that are of about equal width. As noted, the revolver retains in about FINE condition. The gun retains about 40%+ of its original high-polished blue finish overall. The frame retains about 60%+ of its thinning high polish blue, with more on the left and less on the right side and more moderate loss on the top strap and grip frame. The barrel retains only some traces of blue which are some thinning freckles mixed with a moderately oxidized, slightly mottled brownish patina. The cylinder retains about 10% of its blued finish, mostly in the cylinder flutes and has the same moderately oxidized brownish patina found on the barrel. The triggers and hammer are polished bright and show a moderate amount of freckled oxidation. The metal is mostly smooth throughout with no real pitting present, but some scattered minor oxidized surface roughness that is mostly on the barrel. The few markings on the gun remain clear, crisp and fully legible. The action of the revolver is extremely crisp and tight and functions perfectly. The revolver times, indexes and locks up perfectly. Both triggers and both the single action and double action modes function perfectly. The bore of the revolver remains in about FINE condition as well. It is mostly bright with crisp rifling along its entire length. There is some scattered minor oxidation and frosting in the grooves, as well as some scattered areas of discoloration and some minor pitting. A good cleaning will probably improve the bore even further. The checkered wood grips remain in about FINE condition as well and retain crisp checkering over most of their surfaces. The grips are solid and free of any breaks, cracks or repairs. The grips show some scattered areas of wear and scattered bumps, dings and handling marks. There are also some small areas of minor flattening to the checkering found here and there.

Overall, this is a really nice and crisp example of a very scarce Double Trigger Commercial M83 Reichsrevolver. These commercial double action, double trigger revolvers are fairly scarce. The name and other information inside the grips make this revolver an interesting research project as well. This would be a wonderful addition to any collection of 19^th century Imperial German revolvers and would be a great piece to add to a display of an early WWI period German officer’s items. The gun is 100% complete, correct and original and retains a large amount of original finish. It will be a wonderful piece to add to your collection, and I am quite sure you will be quite proud to display it.

ON HOLD