Very Early Mars Pistol #4

[@THR33SIXX3MPYR]

Ye Olde Desert Eagle

[@MrSpudz2]

Referring this gun to a desert eagle is insulting to Mr. Fairfax...

[@Theonederboy]

@@MrSpudz2 not really

[@avro549B]

What a splendid name, "Sir Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax", and an impressively elaborate piece. He really ought to feature in steampunk literature.

[@Molo9000]

What kind of monsters was Mr. Fairfax afraid of?

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Molo9000 With a sidearm like that? Not a single one.

[@dustinhinzman]

Rock Island Auction Company lol

[@Liquidouz]

When he carried this thing... Absolutely nothing. Including tanks... Blow the mofo's right in half.

[@deepwoodskentuckian]

Really big ones

[@michaelbritt7609]

Cthulhu?

[@DtWolfwood]

so the pistol works like a tiny auto-loading artillery piece

[@Orinslayer]

DtWolfwood I was thinking something similar...("Its a friggen hand cannon!")

[@edwhatshisname3562]

Same thought process.

[@andrewyork3869]

@Lassi Kinnunen would have been a interesting carbine.

[@angelsfallfirst7348]

@@andrewyork3869 You would need quite a long stock to avoid being struck by the action.

[@dennisyoung4631]

One Tester compared these pistols to “a young *cannon.”*

[@J.DeLaPoer]

The Mars is my favorite pistol of all time, and I really appreciate this and your other video as I'm certain they're literally the only videos of the Mars out there. It's really a shame no replicas are made. An original Mars is my holy grail of firearms, but far out of the price range I could justify for something that I couldn't even shoot. I would however pay without complaint for a replica in .45acp, .44mag, or something else appropriately large and/or powerful (it's the mechanism and aesthetic that I'm attracted to much more than the power per se, but it just wouldn't be the same in 9mm or god forbid, .22LR like so many other "replica" arms these days).

[@GRMGR1]

The amount of imagination and thought that went into that pistol is amazing.

[@xtangero]

Honestly, this is probably the best version I've seen of this gun. In this guise the gun knows what it is--a large hunting pistol. Perhaps it could have leant itself to a shoulder stock and handguard to make a high-caliber carbine of sorts.

[@brandonobaza8610]

If Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "Dirty Harry", Mars would've had better fortune. "Sooty Harold" takes to the streets of London for truth, justice, and the British way.

[@nomanmcshmoo8640]

"Sooty Harold"...holy cats that about killed me!!!!

[@maths-monkey]

'One's line of thought is presumably: "Has he discharged eight cartridges, or merely seven?" Veraciously, amidst this kerfuffle it has quite escaped me also. But, since this is a .45 Mars, the most formidable hand-cannon in the Empire, capable of adroitly decapitating an elephant with a single shot, one must inquire of oneself: "Does one feel fortunate?" Well, does one, Sir?'

[@gustavgnoettgen]

@@maths-monkey that's a gem. Thanks

[@houndofzoltan]

Ha ha ha. I think that's one of the first comments I've read that's made me genuinely laugh out loud. Sooty Harold deserves to join the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

[@zachsorenson1382]

houndofzoltan I want to like this a thousand times over but I can only do it once ☹️

[@JoeRezac005]

They should make functioning reproductions of those! (With ammo.) I'd buy one. They look so badass and the way they work is really cool too.

[@sheevpalps66]

I wish, I've been in love with it since playing Battlefield 1

[@michaelm6172]

45 Win. Mag reproductions would probably work decently well

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

I am generally not a fan of magnum handguns except for the .357, and that only because the .38 Special can be seen as somewhat anaemic even with +P loads, especially in the context of things like IPSC. I also personally see no need to own the biggest and the baddest (to each their own). But these? These are the exception. For all their flaws (perhaps even because of them?), they are magnificent pieces of work. Webley should have bought Gabbett-Fairfax out, made these pistols, and put some of them in carbine stocks. They would have made a mint. I doubt they would have done well in trench warfare (too delicate, too many ways for grime to get in), but Naval boarding parties and possibly tank crews would have loved them.

[@edwhatshisname3562]

Dirty Harry, 1800's style. This looks like a gun that should be remade in a modern cartridge type. It's too cool to be forgotten.

[@alexk8792]

"Now, I know exactly what you are thinking, my law-breaking friend; 'Did he fire seven or eight shots?' Well, to be perfectly honest, I had lost count in all of this hullabaloo. But, being that this weapon is a Mars automatic pistol, which is known as the most powerful handgun in the entire world, and would very much create a large, gaping hole in your cranium, you very well have to ask yourself if you feel lucky. So, the question is; Do you?" - Sir Harold Francis Callahan

[@buoy9665]

i love how this video is in the channels artillery playlist

[@ArmandKarlsen]

Now I want to see a lunatic handloader make some ammo for this...

[@Michael_Smith-Red_No.5]

" Let's bring the camera back. " It's almost Pavlovian, I know I'm about to learn something interesting. For instance, this Mars pistol; it's fascinating to see how complicated a simple system can be made. It is literally looking back in time, in terms of design.

[@eric21881]

these mars pistols are my favorite videos, these are just too cool. I really love the early semi autos, the sky was the limit

[@StPaul76]

What a behemoth of a pistol! :D Extremely over-engineered but explicitly well made.. Something about these Mars pistols reminds of the field artillery pieces of the day like the entire barrel assembly recoiling and dual recoil springs and so on.. I can't help but love these things especially when thinking about the punch these things packed compared to other handguns of the era. 225gr and 1200fps is a hand cannon in the late 1800's.. Straight from a Jules Verne story for sure :D

[@AnonAlmostDelivers]

You know, seeing this pistol makes me wonder if Gustav Holst when composing "Mars, the bringer of war" was actually thinking about the planet because he might as well been thinking about this behemoth.

[@robertgiggie6366]

the long action is perfect for the high powered cartridge (see the lynx), by its nature it eats up a lot of the recoil force

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

I love the look of that pistol, but having the entire barrel slam back seems like it would very much spoil all follow up shots. Mars did the rear extraction magazine 100 years before Boberg.

[@LittleHondaRider]

Its amazing to me how someone that long ago could visualize the operation of this thing, pretty cool.

[@nokiot9]

That thing is a beast! "Ludicrously impressive" is the term alright.

[@jakebutler6473]

One of my favorite channels, so much knowledge and way better than anything on television.

[@Pcm979]

This sidearm needs a sidearm.

[@handpaper6871]

Co-axial .22 SSMG.

[@JunkfoodZombieGuns]

"Ludicrously impressive." That was funny. :-)

[@leejones5026]

Whoa badass looks like a early version of Desert Eagle

[@GjVj]

What an extraordinary piece! Brilliant video, loved every second of it. Thanks, man!

[@swdfsdft]

God i love these Mars guns.

[@swdfsdft]

swdfsdft I know no one ever will, but reproductions of these would be amazing.

[@pb68slab18]

Designed by a very smart person and made by highly skilled craftsmen, artists really! No CAD, no CAM, no CMM.

[@TheStogie0102]

Thanks for the video. It awesome to see all the different types of guns and actions of old that we just dont ever get to see..

[@Za7a7aZ]

I am always so fascinated by the mechanics people come up with making these guns...and amazed how they allow the user take apart the gun without tools..

[@MisterRorschach90]

This seems like the kind of sidearm they would use in that video game the order 1886.

[@LJVolkov21]

Fairfax seems to have been trying to compensate for something with that one.

[@BrooksideFarmBarreMA]

Damn. Now I want one. Because sometimes you need to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Through your house. And appliances. And the tank between you and the T-Rex.

[@tarmaque]

"It's an 88 Magnum. It shoots through schools." ~ Danny Vermin _Johnny Dangerously_ 1984

[@JulioAvalos3000]

What a handsome firearm. Thank you for the video.

[@zombiekiller892]

auto mag crossed with a Desert eagle

[@Ki113r210]

crossed with a howitzer

[@nomanmcshmoo8640]

crossed with a grain elevator

[@Bluith]

If Shaq needs a CCW I think he just found it

[@Paintplayer1]

Ben Waldron I'm more about the booty goin on in that photo than I am his accidental CCW reveal

[@glautreu8431]

This needs to be in a steam punk themed video game of some sort. Friggin' awesome.

[@nickgalbraith6608]

Glautreu www.imfdb.org/wiki/Order:_1886,_The This is a very disappointing read, almost everything is anachronistic; they put in the Chiappa Triple Threat for Christ's sake.

[@flamezombie1]

Nick Galbraith Not a very good game either- very short for the price.

[@rickn8or]

And in L. Neil Smith's "The Probability Broach."

[@skepolotv4173]

They might as well have put in a fucking AR-15, make it wooden and cover it with wires, engines and exhaust pipes on it and call it a gun

[@bowmen08]

I think it's in Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Anachronistic, AFAIK, but still there.

[@sandbergmachineandtool6226]

Mars pistols are so cool, I would love to reproduce one or two

[@TheTNK97]

Desert Eagle circa 1898

[@TheBuntinator]

The action of this pistol reminds me of field artillery, just miniaturized and self loading. What an overly complex piece that thing is. Cool!

[@chrisvela4860]

I'm only here because I recently unlocked this weapon in the Video Game Assassin's Creed Syndicate! That thing looks so slick but unfortunately after reading about it turns out it's best to keep it as a collectable item. So cool of you to show us this pistol!!

[@GinSoakedBoy]

That was even cooler than the later Mars guns. Looks less bulky yet similarly ridiculous in its own way, especially considering the long barrel.

[@ctaber2011]

I love my MARS, took me awhile to find one, mine is #079.I love it, I actually have plenty of ammo if any MARS owners needs any you can message me Here.

[@davidwoodward7020]

what an amazingly engineered pistol.

[@alexace31190]

What a cool action and a very neat looking gun. Looks like a perfect steampunk sort of hand cannon- in .45 Mag no less! Great video, I'd love to see one shoot in slow motion.

[@ResidentWeevil2077]

There are only 4 semiauto large-calibre pistols I know of that use a rotating bolt: the Wildey, the Auto Mag 180, the Desert Eagle, and the Mars. The Wildey and Desert Eagle are gas-operated, while the Mars and Auto Mag are recoil-operated.

[@leonardcrainie9928]

steam punk desert eagle?

[@CaptainGrief66]

Could work for both to be honest. To keep it dieselpunk just make it a little more overbuilt, like adding more angles and a ribbed barrel. To make it steampunk make some of the bolts out of brass, add some engravings too maybe, you could also add a scope at this point.

[@_ArsNova]

At last, I have found it... my concealed carry pistol.

[@shelleyking8450]

This earlier one is way smoother, plus it's so big it makes the Automag look like a toy. LOVE the long barrel.

[@TheOneUndOnlyNobody]

This would be the pistol I would use as a template for a star wars gun.

[@douglasfulmer5483]

And I thought the Desert Eagle was oversized...

[@Prototype622]

I see where IMI/IWI took inspiration from with their 10 in. Barrel variant of the Desert Eagle from

[@melmothe2030]

''No one who fired a Mars ever wanted to fire it twice'' It could quite literally break your wrist

[@dandel351]

If " Dirty Harry" didn't have the .44 Magnum I'd want him to have one of these guns. They look cool to me I'd love to see one firing, and a ballistic gel test would be awesome.

[@survivalcomms]

Would be awesome to see some high speed camera video of a Mars firing.

[@schuriken]

Mars pistols are the most beautiful guns I've come across in your show Ian. They should rename them the Arnold Schwarzeneger pistols or something....

[@Hysteria98]

Adding Hickok shooting one of these to my bucket list...

[@ArmchairAce]

I love seeing a long recoil mechanism work, it looks like you're using a miniature artillery piece in your hand.

[@Goldberg1337]

Thanks for the video! I first read about this in a book I got at a used book sale about "pistols of World War I and II" although I doubt that the Mars was ever used in combat! Even though the book was printed in the 80s, no ammunition could be found by the writer to photograph with the pistol. That action is as ridiculous as it is impressive! :D

[@LordQuintix]

This gun looks like it was designed to be used on a submarine/ U-boat, something a captain would have as a side arm. I love outlandish designs like this.

[@markmathisen3908]

That magazine and feeding system makes me think of that strange little Boberg pistol from awhile back. The Boberg was a bullpup design, but curious if the feed system on it was Mars inspired?

[@Hirobian]

I'd like to see the firing and reloading sequence animation for this type of gun, especially its bullet loading mechanism.

[@josephg.2988]

Sir Hugh must have been looking ahead to a shoulder stock for this handgun, to have that long a barrel. This is a prototype, so he needn't be concerned with the stock and an attachment slot yet. Down the road, didn't Luger make a lengthy barrel with a shoulder stock for artillery crews' sidearms?

[@nosferatu5]

Damn, thats one fantastic pistol.

[@Neutercane]

Completely fascinating design!

[@gkimsey]

At RIA's sale price estimate of $45k-75k, I'd be pretty hesitant to handle this thing. Obviously it's a big gun and looks sturdy in all the ways that would matter, but still. I feel like you need to have insurance just to touch it. Side question: How's the actual "shootability" of the thing, in your estimate? I imagine that long recoil system (especially the trigger delay) might cause some difficulty in any sort of rapid fire. Hows the trigger? Sights?

[@VegasCyclingFreak]

That's an odd duck, but mechanically kinda interesting

[@MrAdammack]

Good Lord! That's a beast!

[@MrSven3000]

thats how i would imagine a steampunk desert eagle.... pretty cool. and that rotating bolt is quite advanced for 1898 aswell (i think).

[@BaalZann1]

now thats something really friggen cool

[@cybrpypr]

Definitely a Han Solo looking pistol for sure.

[@gvg_solar3263]

T.C. McQueen nooo that's the Mauser c96

[@Hawk1966]

Truly surprising this never turned up in a sci-fi movie.

[@Samdegraff]

Forgotten Weapons 10 years ago: "this plastic sphere shoots out angry explosive cats in an hexagonal 5th dimensional pattern and reduces the physical distance to the target via telepathy. Forgotten weapons now: "this 1911 is painted blue"

[@lucianene7741]

That lifter system works better with tubular underbarrel magazines which were well-known and widespread at the time (still are today).

[@JerryEricsson]

Man I would love to have one of those in the .45 MARS caliber! Ah well pipe dreams, and me selling off all my pipes after I stopped smoking.

[@jarkoer]

I'd hate to try to take-down, clean, and reassemble that thing after a day at the range. Still, that's an interesting piece of history, and you can see where early sci-fi movies might have gotten their inspiration for their ray guns.

[@peterianfinnigan636]

Officer's who fired the gun described it as a young cannon and didn't want to try it again.

[@Clint52279]

It looks like you could add scope, and a few other bits, and it would make a fine Star Wars prop "blaster."

[@NormanMatchem]

Amazing pistol!

[@joannehudson6226]

Cant believe its so old ian Such a modern design? i bet youd love to give it a blast dirty harry

[@The-Bloke]

One thing I keep wondering when I see these old guns with special, or at least no-longer-available cartridges, is whether it would ever be possible to fire them today? I realise it's unlikely anyone would ever want to fire a gun worth as much as such guns usually are. But hypothetically speaking, if one can't get the original ammunition, does that make it impossible to fire short of re-creating cartridges? Would one need to find an original cartridge and contract a gunsmith to re-create it? Or are there ways to fire other, similar ammo, without requiring a professional ammo company/gunsmith?

[@ForgottenWeapons]

+TheBloke Recreating ammunition for something like this is a process of development, making slight changes many times until just the right recipe of powder type, powder volume, case dimensions, and projectile is found. This process could potentially damage the gun, and very few owners would be willing to take that chance. And even if they do, the ammo development process would be fairly expensive and time consuming. It's something I might conceivably do for a gun or two in my own personal collection, but completely unfeasible for a gun at an auction house.

[@madsd4881]

+Forgotten Weapons you should show us your collection sometime :)

[@TheHelado36]

This one is so mechanically sexy !

[@Carbon762]

You said ludicrously impressive but I think you meant impressively ludicrous. This thing is still awesome. Rotating bolt pistols forever!

[@utahliberator]

I actually got a chance to hold the Royal Armouries' .455 Mars on a trip to England. The people in the Pattern Room went a bit ga-ga over my Utah concealed carry permit.

[@arthurthedented]

How do the Boberg pistols compare? That 'pull the cartridge backward to load' seems like an actually good idea if it could be iterated enough to compete in simplicity and reliability with other modern handguns and make the whole mechanism more compact.. and that HOOK on the magazine seems way better than feed lips for reliability..

[@Hysteria98]

Funny thing is, if you relocate the trigger and grip to the rear, it just looks something like an old Colt peacemaker or dragoon sort of thing. It loses it unique look entirely.

[@peterpayne2720]

I am just going to agree with others. This is like a steampunk Desert Eagle that functions like a self loading hand held artillery piece. I can only imagine how bad the recoil was on these.

[@da_big_noose101]

that actually looks like a really nice gun to shoot, unlike some of the others around that time.

[@kevinoliver3083]

According to a RN test report, shooting the Mars was "singularly unpleasant and alarming" and "No one who fired once with the pistol wished to shoot it again".

[@Rkendall95]

ludicrously impressive

[@tiortedrootsky]

One of the coolest guns ever! World of guns have model of this gun if you want to understand the mechanism better. But their model lacks a lever on the back of the bolt/slide that hits the frame when the slide is almost all the way forward, which releases bolt handle, allowing the bolt to rotate for locking.

[@docsavage101]

This is the pistol bowman Peter Williams has in the fantastic fantasy the Vorrh by B.Catling he uses it to good effect..check it out 😉

[@BurnTheNuance]

Would love to own this.... But I imagine the pricing point will/would be insane.

[@maeus8220]

With the designer's name being "Fairfax", and the 'manufacturer's' name being "Webley", you may wonder why they're called "Mars pistols"... They were named after their target.

[@chillhaze6428]

You, sir or madam, win the Internet for today. Huzzah indeed!

[@docwilkey]

Interesting piece as always.

[@stephenfereday8308]

Bloody hell Love it Want one A thing of beauty

[@pault5382]

I know that you only get to share what comes across your plate but it would be cool to see a dardrick pistol or carbine. The high bore axis on this pistol reminded me of that one. As always thanks for the great videos on interesting firearms.

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Paul T We had a Dardick scheduled for filming, but discovered too late that it was not mechanically sound enough to provide a good representation. Don't worry, we'll get another one soon enough. :)

[@ForgottenWeapons]

Rock Island Auction Company Not just filming, but shooting! I still have the trounds I picked up for it, and sooner or later I'll find a gun I can shoot them in. :)

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Forgotten Weapons WE WERE SO CLOSE!

[@pault5382]

I'll be looking forward to seeing one in action when you have a chance! Thanks Ian and Rock island auction company.

[@Mr.Atari2600]

Looks like a Desert Eagle with a barrel extension.

[@tombraver6449]

Would you recommend this for conceal and carry?

[@ZGryphon]

This reminds me of that goofy Wildey Moore cannon that turns up in whichever Death Wish movie it's in. 3, I think.

[@madgeordie4469]

A .45 calibre bullet moving at 1200 fps in 1898? What was Gabbet - Fairfax think of? Hunting tyrannosaurs?

[@worldtraveler930]

So how does the bolt lock and unlock?