History Primer 193: Adams Revolvers Documentary | C&Rsenal

Othais and Mae delve into the story of this classic. Complete with history, function, and live fire demonstration.
C&Rsenal presents its Primer series; covering the firearms of this historic conflict one at a time in honor of the centennial anniversary. Join us every other Tuesday!
We are a patron funded production, so please consider supporting the continuation and growth of this content at:
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Prints/patches/shirts from the show:
candrsenal.com/shop/
Ballistol USA
ballistol.com/
Ballistol Elsewhere
www.ballistol-shop.de/index.p...
Additional reading:
Adams Revolvers in U.S. and British Military Service
Robert D. Whittington III
Geschichte und Technik der europäischen Militarrevolver Band 2
Rolf H. Muller
Howdah to High Power
Robert J. Maze
Early Police Firearms
Mike Waldren QPM
Arms & Accoutrements of the Mounted Police 1873 - 1973
Roger F. Phillips & Donald J. Klancher
Revolvers of the British Services 1854-1954
WHJ Chamberlain & AWF Taylerson
Adams' Revolvers
WHJ Chamberlain & AWF Taylerson
Ammunition data thanks to DrakeGmbH
/ drakegmbh
Animations by Bruno!
/ @baanimations3689
Snail Mail/Contact us at:
candrsenal.com/contact/

[@quinnfell3824]

From the SKS to the Adams revolver, the range of videos you guys produce is ever staggering

[@robertbridges517]

Bordering on iconic... if not already

[@leohanson-meier3471]

@@robertbridges517 now we just need to get him to 1mil

[@2copy3copy4cpoy]

as I sat on my porch watching this video, a motorbike drove by blasting CCR, and a thought entered my mind: "in 30 years, C&Rsenal will be making "guns of the Vietnam Wars episode 39" about the M16A1, playing Fortunate Son during Mae's shooting segment

[@greyconley6949]

Good way to start my morning, open youtube and see a C&Rsenal video posted 30 seconds ago

[@jeffbangle4710]

It still has that "new video smell", right? ;)

[@Sommertest]

Thanks! As a history nerd, I really appreciate all the hard work put into these episodes.

[@YerluvinunclePete]

English families will often use the same names over and over. My father (John) tracked our tree back and it's mostly George, John and William. Brothers who moved to different towns would both continue the same names with first cousins. So figuring out the identity of an English commoner can get murky.

[@jonathanhudak2059]

Prior to all this I most likely wouldn't have given an Adam's revolver a second look. But now after all of this and excellent coverage by Othais and Mae, now I am a fan. Doesn't mean I'd go out and buy one but they have a coolness all their own. Well done you guys!

[@Lomi311]

Oh yeah! Ever since Othais became the old revolver expert extraordinaire, I’ve been looking forward to these!

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

as an British Englishman named Adam, this makes me happy We don't realize how lucky we are to have C&Rsenal's massive gallery of video documentaries, all carefully compiled research stuffed into one long-format video on a single firearm or family of firearms. They're very easy to comprehend and follow with splendid aesthetic presentation - great examples in the lightbox for example, replete with digestible demarcations on the screen: calibre, weight, and so on. So dense with relevant information but never ever bores me! People will be referring to your videos for years to come, even if it's only for the lightbox images, your videos will be used to help educate anyone with an internet connection for probably quite a long time. Thank you so much, Othais, Mae, and any other members of this team. I wish I could afford to pay for these. I am beyond grateful that's optional, so I'm hoping this longish comment will boost your engagement as some form of saying "Thank you!"

[@cedhome7945]

It was in the 1980s there was a antique shop on park row in Bristol that had Adams revolvers in the window as then you could buy them as they were obsolete without a license or fear of a visit by the law .I wish i could have collected some back then but the thought of handing them in to be destroyed woud be hartbreaking .

[@chroma6947]

@@cedhome7945 If your a sheep then yea it would be

[@floridajack7222]

@@chroma6947 - why do you have to be abusive?

[@robbikebob]

I live a few miles from Darfield in South Yorkshire! It's a tiny village. I've never heard it mentioned on KZbin, ever, and I'd never have thought that the first time it would be mentioned would be in an American gun channel!! 😂

[@ericmckinley7985]

"Yorkshire? What is Yorkshire?" "Yorkshire is a place. Yorkshire is a state of mind!"

[@MB-nn3jw]

Wow, the Adams revolvers. Awesome! Seriously, thanks. I really enjoy your early revolver series'.

[@alanjones3874]

The British had a wonderful way of comparing the stopping power of the Adams versus the Colt Navy . " One British officer in the Crimean War reported that with his Adams revolver he was able to drop four Russians intent upon bayoneting him , while another in the Indian Mutiny , emptied a Colt into an enraged Sepoy and was ` cloven to the teeth ' by the unstopped mutineer .

[@Pcm979]

Ah, but what if the Sepoy had 4 times the HP to the Russians? The Indian Mutiny was a later level, after all.

[@tonybennett638]

Probably depends on the first or second shot where you hit them ....seen a bull put down with .22 .

[@iansheppard3593]

So I've also read, by the quote probably in the same book I read. I believe the Adams revolver in question was the .497 (38 bore?) calibre, much sought after by the British officers.

[@sangomasmith]

The Adams and... the Adams are both such neat revolvers in their own ways. I'd love to see a companion reprocussion video on the 1851 or 1854 Adams.

[@thespecialbru]

Jonny Ferg mentioned that there is a repro Adam’s revolver on the horizon and I am SUPER ready for it. Glad y’all covered this firearm family!

[@johndilday1846]

That would be so cool. These early revolvers just exude a special class all their own. I would like to see the Mark 3 be reproduced as it seems to have some better features. I would also like to see a reproduction of the Webley MKVI. But I wish they would make them in a caliber that we can easily get today (.38 Special or .44 Special).

[@BadlanderOutsider]

I'm a simple man. I see a video on Victorian martial revolvers, I watch.

[@Mygg_Jeager]

Same lol

[@knutclau705]

I SAY, Quite the same with me, by jove! 😅

[@johndoe-so2ef]

Me as well

[@haydenbrewer4128]

I'm a simple man. I see some southern chick dressed like a dude with a heavy accent and always points a gun in your direction, I also watch.

[@DocOmaley98]

Agreed

[@anotherjones5384]

Me: *stressed out about life and work* C&Rsenal: *cello starts playing* Me: 🙂

[@Hybris51129]

I will admit that when stressed at work I put on usually the Maxim episodes and finish my shift. Long relaxing episodes broken up by the ever exciting sound of machine gun fire.

[@BumroyV2]

I don't know what it is about 19th century, European revolvers, but I find so many of them aesthetically beautiful. This is no exception; it’s gorgeous.

[@anselmdanker9519]

Thank you for this presentation on the Adams.

[@ashleysmith3106]

As an Australian/South Australian Arms collector, I am both appalled and envious that so many our historic arms were only sold to the USA. Even one of the Australian WW2 Browning Hi-Powers that was allotted to me in a Government sell-off "accidentally" got sent to America. Bureaucratic inefficiency ! (not to mention a Bren that I paid a couple of weeks wages for, and was never reimbursed !)

[@janknudsen145]

Thanks!

[@ashleysmith3106]

I'm astounded and impressed by the complicated research needed for this brilliant, entertaining and illuminating series ! Thanks Guys, for all the hard work and top production over the last few years. I am a total fan of firearms history, and deeply regret that I cannot afford to become a patron of series like this, Anvil, Forgotten Weapons, and Royal Armouries to name just a few.

[@bobskool]

From ShotgunWorld: Robert Adams, reportedly the son of a blacksmith, was born in 1809 in Marldon, Devon. He appears to have been apprenticed to John Clarke, a gunsmith in Woolborough Street, Newton Abbot, Devon. In the 1841 census he was recorded living in Bridge Street, Woolborough, Newton Abbot with his cousin, John Adams (b.1821 in Kingskerswell near Newton Abbot) and George Stancombe (b.1826). Robert, aged 30, described himself as a gun maker, John Adams and George Stancombe were described as gun maker's apprentices. Robert moved to London in the early 1840s but John was recorded in 1843 as a gun maker in Bridge Street. Presumably, Robert found work with George and John Deane who then traded at 46 King William Street, but in 1846 they moved to 30 King William Street and Robert Adams was recorded as manager. In 1851 Robert patented a self-cocking revolver mechanism in which the barrel and frame were forged as a single part (patent No. 13527). The self-cocking action allowed faster shooting than other revolvers which had to be cocked, such as the Colt, and the solid frame gave them great strength. He exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. In 1853 a new partnership, Deane Adams & Deane, was established to make the revolver pistols and rifles. Reportedly, in 1854 Robert started to look for investors in a new gun manufacturing business. In 1856 he left the the Deane partnership to become manager of and a partner in what appears to have been the resulting business, the London Armoury Company. They took over the Deane Adams & Deane partnership's factory at 2 New Weston Street so it seems likely that The Deanes were also members of this partnership. Robert reportedly remained a partner in John Deane & Sons. In 1858 he resigned from London Armoury Company to establish his own business as a wholesale and retail gun maker at 76 King William Street. He was appointed gunmaker to the Prince Consort, Prince Albert, and supplied revolvers to the War Department and the East India Company. He also supplied the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics with arms via the South African firm of Mosenthal Brothers. On 3 February 1860 Robert patented an underlever cocking mechanism (No. 285) which was used by Holland & Holland, amongst others. No record of Robert has been found in the 1851 census but in the 1861 census he was recorded living at "Oakfield", Lewisham, London, with his wife, Sarah S (b.1821 in London) and six daughters, Sarah A (b.1843 in Trinity Square, Southwark, London), Florence (b.1851 in King William Street), Constance (b.1852 in King William Street), Blanche (b.1855 in Camberwell, London) and Louise (b.1857 in Camberwell). Staying with them on the night of the census were, amongst other visitors, his cousin John Adams, who described himself as a gun manufacturer. John was not described as a visitor and as he was described as a gun manufacturer it seems likely that he worked for Robert. In 1863 Robert took over the London Armoury Co premises at Railway Arches, Henry Street, Bermondsey. In 1865 he was declared bankrupt and his assets including his shareholding in John Deane & Sons were surrendered to London Armoury Co (Ltd). He began again in 1866 at 40 Pall Mall, but the business closed within the year and he died in 1870. In the 1871 census his widow, Sarah A was recorded living at Rosemary Villa, Underhill Road, Dulwich, London. She described herself as a gun manufacturer's widow. Living with her and recorded for the first time, were two sons, Robert (b.1849 in London) who was an engineer's clerk, and Atkins B (b.1852 in London) who was a tea merchat's clerk. Florence Constance and Louisa were also recorded. The Beaumont-Adams Revolver was made in several calibres, the .450 calibre British Service revolver being adopted by the British Military in 1862. There were a number of variations and it was converted from cap & ball to cartridge loading. It had a double action lock patented by Frederick Beaumont, a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.

[@ashleysmith3106]

Excellent information ! You should become a researcher for this series !

[@bfairfax8772]

I think the best take away rom this episode is, Adams revolvers set the standard for what a British revolver was right up to the end of their use in service.

[@christhesmith]

Half a million subscribers is a tiny fraction of what You deserve! I am SO proud to be a patreon supporter!

[@briangallegos3546]

Sell us C&Rsenal flannel shirts!

[@zoiders]

When pronounced as part of a county name "shire" is pronounced "shir". We only really use the term "shire" when referring to the rural counties in general as "the shires". York-shir. No "ire" in it.

[@aceilingfan_420]

Unfortunately there is a difference in the pronunciation between the US and UK, and many places names here in the states are pronounced "incorrectly" according to the old world

[@tomdixon7264]

A few years ago I wrote to Pedersoli about possibly producing a version of this. They wrote back! They did suggest it at their next meeting, and would probably go ahead if there is enough firm interest expressed by the shooting community. It's up to those with vision and wallets now. Think of the cool factor and give them a shout.

[@Nearsightedfarseer]

I was never interested in old revolvers but now I want Big O's shirt.

[@JosipRadnik1]

Ah.... Othais, Mae, crew and one of the most iconic and influential revolvers in history - all in one package! 😃 Still at work for now but I already know what I'll be watching when I'll have my chill out beer tonight 🍺

[@scoutsniper3363]

Thanks again guys!

[@Lomi311]

Now we wait for the 1851 Reprocussions episode.

[@Nam8Macs]

The audio on the gunshots is super clear and crisp

[@KarltheKrazyone]

I know you've said it before, but semi's being simpler and revolvers simply being better at utilizing lower grade steel and more able to handle some forms of looser tolerancing (but only in certain aspects) and more importantly being more resilient to lower quality toleranced ammo, is really exemplified in these revolvers. They did a lot with somewhat artificial constraints, and the next couple tech steps are just improvements, not wholesale changes, but as you said, recognized too late.

[@iansheppard3593]

I guess if I bump it here on the latest vid it will be seen. Back during the Lewis Gun episode it was suggested of the possibility of an episode concerning the Lewis in service as an aircraft gun. Just thought I'd mention it 😉

[@cseivard]

Further flowing Brilliance. Thanks for sharing the reasearch!

[@bryansimon4072]

Always looking for more content. Love your work. Thanks

[@JMR6813]

I love when I see that there's a new video out!

[@michaelrieber4858]

Love your detailed videos. Keep up the good work, can’t wait for the next one!

[@stephenbond1990]

I've been waiting for this since the Webley episode and I'm not disappointed, thank you once again.

[@Gunsbeerfreedom87]

It was really nice of Adam to lend you his revolver.

[@scott_hunts]

Well, there goes my hope of buying an original Adams for a decent price. Ah well, at least I get a documentary out of it. Thanks guys, keep it up.

[@SomervilleBob]

My name is Robert Adams. Not a gunsmith though. I read that my Adams relatives came over in 1860 to Revere, Massachusetts.

[@timothyedge6100]

Very interesting! Thanks

[@ssgadamjunemann]

I am a patron and playeur supporter and I am a mod on hypnocast I try to share your show in our discord to help get membership your way.

[@ivanblack7450]

Might just be my favorite sounding sidearm

[@rwm4738]

Been waiting for this.

[@timblack6422]

Best content on the webs!

[@yesthecrumbs5806]

Can't wait to see that Pieper

[@kirkmooneyham]

And yet, despite all the semi-automatic pistols being made today, revolver designs are still in production, and still do reasonable sales every year. So, even if the design of the revolver is "outclassed" by semi-automatics, there is still something to it that gets a lot of folks to buy them.

[@andyvan5692]

loved the second Mae firing, of the revolver, that is, as do I detect almost a laugh?, we got some sighs though, so a good performer.

[@MB-nn3jw]

It's funny, I ran into the same issues trying to identify all the various Adams', when I went digging a few months ago. I pretty much gave up based on my limited access to records and information.

[@F1ghteR41]

11:05 What was and wasn't adopted was of little consequence for the military in which officers were to provide their own kit. Even with swords one only had to mimic the hilt pattern for it to pass muster, so to speak. Lancers, NCOs and trumpeters were obviously an exception. 1:15:40 French Apache revolver/pepperbox comes to mind in this regard.

[@dino2gnt]

HELL YEAH MORE REVOLVER CONTENT!

[@SafetyProMalta]

Outstanding as usual. Top draw channel. With all the dross on YT, how come you are not a million plus amazes me.

[@tenofprime]

YT's algorithm tends to not recommend long videos or videos on firearms, so when you make documentaries on firearms that are longer than some feature films you get ignored by it.

[@iansheppard3593]

Was the later .450 Adams cartridge less powerful than the earlier Robert Adams 54 bore?

[@fcadcock]

Thank you for all the great work that you do to make these videos. Between Othias and Ian, yall are providing easily accessible history lessons on topics that aren't usually covered in other places.

[@davidbrennan660]

Hail the return of the Old Wheel gun channel.

[@mahogany7712]

Lets Go more C&Rsenal 1 hour absolute awesome vid

[@johnfisk811]

Was the Adams not still in British prison service until all guns were withdrawn from British prisons in the 1950s?

[@zoiders]

The British Prison service never used firearms.

[@johnfisk811]

Au contraire. The Snider Gaol Service with the buckshot cartridge was still in use on Dartmoor until about 1953 for one when the decision was taken that firearms should be withdrawn and disposed of and the Police to be called upon if there were a firearms incident. Issued or no the Adams was still on the inventory for issue.@@zoiders

[@snowflakemelter1172]

No chance

[@jimstanga6390]

This more likely the revolver that Lt. Chard and Lt. Bromhead carried at Roarke’s Drift.

[@zoiders]

Chard carried a Webley RIC model revolver. I believe the Royal Engineers museum still have it.

[@davidhansen5067]

Less well known than the last gun, but I'm actually more excited about this one!

[@sorino2817]

Very cool

[@MrChrisStarr]

Oh for a P53 episode!

[@wagon9082]

Good video

[@cheeseburgerwalrus5538]

Are you going to be doing a video about that Mexican gendarmerie revolving carbine on the wall there to the right side of the screen?

[@Sman7290]

No! Absolutely not! It's there just to torment you with the idea.

[@ditzydoo4378]

A question if you please. Because of the length of the Adams conversion cylinder Mk-I thru Mk-III. Would they have been capable of firing either the black powder.45 Scofield, 0r.45 Colt??

[@cedhome7945]

It's fantastic that you have resurcherd these fine old guns especially the British ones as anything about guns in Britain is almost a taboo subject and so many people I have worked with or know would not have a clue about there own history and the industry that has long disappeared. thanks for all the hard work and making it understandable 👍🇺🇲🇬🇧

[@Frank-bc8gg]

I was confused by the 'British looks like this' initially and thought othaias was gonna cause an international row by saying how British people look like a Beaumont Adams revolver.

[@jameson7276]

Crazy to think how quickly revolver technology matured, even if it could have matured much, much more quickly. Perhaps there is a simplicity to revolvers after all.

[@Gamer_1745]

I have started to buy Ballistol

[@dndboy13]

Adams in the middle of the Dean/Adams sandwich (also holy dang, was he doing a proto-OEM type thing)

[@lu-de-lu]

1:03:54 I don’t think the Reichsrevolver 1879 has the correct text above it, it isn’t a “Chamelot-Delvigne 1873”. I’ve skimmed through the comments and no one’s picked up on this?

[@mcintoshpc]

90 minutes of Adams revolvers? Please and thank you.

[@FinalLugiaGuardian]

Question? Are the barrel and frame machined from a single piece of steel?

[@baanimations3689]

Having worked on it, yes they are.

[@HobieH3]

Think you could do 9ne on the Adam's percussion revolvers? Including the B-A.

[@thefriese8805]

@Mae just reinvented the pepperbox 1:15:00

[@seth094978]

Now I want to see a 5 inch pepperbox revolver with like a 1 inch barrel on the end.

[@Hybris51129]

I don't know what it is about these British revolvers but they all have this feeling of being a stereotypical bad guy mook gun if your setting is in the late 19th century. The hero gets the big name well known gun a Webley, a Colt, a Smith & Wesson, maybe even something more exotic like a Gasser but these Adams guns are what most of the bad guy's muscle are armed with.

[@greydonstautzenberger3901]

Whoot whoot

[@TheDiverat]

I was not expecting local history on C&Rsenal I live in Newton Abbot it’s about 6 miles from Marlon and 2 miles from Kingskerswell.

[@Darkestdarkify]

Sadly my first exposure to this was from the office us lol

[@Stephanos1]

I first saw this revolver in Greystoke Tarzan. It's Tarzan's Dad revolver. The apes who killed him, almost shot themselves with it.

[@lonewolfy5697]

ChilledChaosGAME, I think he lives in Texas, too.

[@queefcheif9306]

ballistol had its 120th anniversary this year???

[@CheshireTomcat68]

Adams bullets like to fly sideways, by the look of those targets!

[@larskunoandersen5750]

there was an ecjeter rod at least

[@treyrombach4569]

I got one but can't find .450 adams rounds :(

[@ItsMrAssholeToYou]

.450 Adams has pretty thin walls, which might make this impractical, but it _might_ be possible to trim and either fire-form .44 magnum/special out or resize .45 Colt down with the appropriate dies. Rim diameter on the .44 is a closer match and expanding it will stretch the walls a little thinner (though probably not quite enough in just one go). If you're committed enough, repeated annealing and sizing will get the wall thickness of either cartridge down to where you want it. If you're _really_ committed, some manufacturers have been willing to work with wildcatters in the past. One called Jagemann springs to mind. Be prepared to have to make a large order to go this route.

[@STOCKHOLM07]

I'm just here to watch Mae shoot old guns.

[@thecount5558]

1867 and already both double action and single action (not to mention it's percussion predecessor which was also DA/SA) while the US was probably still using percussion SAs until the SAA in 1873. Makes you realise how slow the US military was to adopt innovations in the late 1800s (the US Navy was a prime example as well), though the same could also be said of the British in the 1860s. Either way, the Adams was a truly under appreciated revolver in my opinion.

[@classifiedad1]

US military at that time was basically broke, especially since at that point the U.S. Civil War ended and there was a massive pile of decent guns.

[@sam1812seal]

I’ve always loved the way that the British named their first general issue rifle a “rifled musket”. Prior to this there were rifles issued to riflemen and muskets issued to line infantry. The riflemen were paid a bonus for their skills. The Brits named the 1853 as a rifled musket so that they didn’t have to pay their line infantry any extra for being riflemen. 😂

[@zoiders]

Not how it works. Light Infantry are skirmishers. Heavy regiments fight in lines. They had different jobs.

[@sam1812seal]

@@zoiderstrue, but the pay increase was linked to the weapon and not the tasking. In addition, by the time the Enfield 1853 was issued the U.K. was entering into the Crimean War and by that time there was little difference in tactics between line and light infantry. Hence the rifled musket rather than just calling it a rifle as they had with the earlier issued Baker and Brunswick.

[@johnfisk811]

Pedantically the first general issue rifle was actually termed a ‘rifle musket’. The earlier issue muskets which were then rifled were those termed ‘rifled muskets’. The Rifle regiments got the same rifle muskets. There was no extra pay issue.

[@zoiders]

​@@sam1812sealNo. The pay increase was linked to the job. You just happened to have a rifle.

[@Odin029]

I've heard of all sizzle and no steak or all hat and no cattle, but Mae's interested in making a gun all cylinder and no barrel

[@user-km2mo1yg2t]

mae wants a 357 pepperbox

[@pelusaxd6681]

Name song the intro plis 🙏

[@ProfessionalNoodler]

Feed the algo.

[@Outlaw_Deadman1996]

PHRASING OTHIAS!!

[@ericwethington]

.357 maximum?

[@alexhemsath6235]

More spinny bois!

[@Bhartrampf]

With the longer cylinder, it would actually increase the cartridge capacity, before the gap and forcing cone. That would increase the speed and power. Increased case capacity is what your thinking. I agree.

[@tonybennett638]

Old revolvers 👍 ...or any revolver.

[@johndoe-so2ef]

As someone who has played with things both English and old, I am going to speculate that the interference of the ejector and the arbor release is intentional. When new(er) and tight, the ejector would be swiveled over, the pin depressed slightly and the ejector pushed in. On withdrawal, the spring loaded pin would engage with the slight groove at the working end of the ejector, stopping it at the end of the stroke. Pure unfounded speculation, but very British.

[@guaporeturns9472]

Really need some velocity numbers

[@ES90344]

Wouldn't really matter, anything that they hand load they usually download for safety so it wouldnt be accurate to historical loadings.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@ES90344 Actually it would matter because I want to know , that’s why I asked. Now run along kid , the adults are talking

[@ES90344]

What good are velocities for downloaded ammo? Genuinely curious.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@ES90344 Because I’m curious about the velocity… why are having such a hard time with that?