10 unusual revolvers

Apache knuckle duster

This unusual-looking gadget was a multi-purpose weapon made from about 1870 to 1900. It's a combination knife, revolver and brass knuckles. It looks really interesting, but my guess would be it's not very practical. Of course these antique firearms make great collector's items. Also, the brass knuckles part was hinged, and it could fold up beneath the main body of the weapon; the knife too could be folded back against the body, thus allowing the user to drop this into a pocket.

Collier flintlock revolver

Several companies made early flintlock revolvers, but Elisha Collier got the patent in England in 1818. Not the prettiest weapon ever made, and probably not very practical, but it easily draws the interest of weapons collectors. Flintlock firearms in general were not easy to use, at least by today's standards, so I can't imagine how much of a pain it would have been to load and fire this flintlock revolver.

Dardick Model 1500

This handgun from the 1950s isn't really a revolver. But it is. It's hard to describe. The Dardick 1500 has an open revolving chamber that can hold three rounds, but it also takes a magazine to insert the rounds. The bullets aren't inserted from the magazine into the chambers in a traditional fashion. In other words, the bullets don't slide into a chamber or any kind of hole shaped like the letter O. Instead, the bullets are inserted into the side of the chamber, into slots shaped like a U. Sorry, but this is awfully difficult to describe. Maybe looking at the patent diagram below will help. Another weird thing, because of the construction, this handgun fired trounds, a sort-of triangular shaped bullet.

Heckler & Koch P11

This isn't really a revolver, but it looks like one so I decided to include it. Plus, it's just so unusual and secretive. Basically, it's a handgun for firing underwater. It fires steel pins, or darts, one for each of the five barrels of the gun. Several special forces groups around the globe use this weapon, and its working mechanisms are a safe-guarded secret. So much so that apparently, once the P11 has been fired, it has to be returned to the manufacturer to be reloaded.

LeMat

The LeMat was a black powder firearm that is mainly remembered as a service sidearm for officers of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Manufactured from 1856 to 1865. Less than 3,000 were actually made. What's really interesting about this period piece is that it had two barrel, a longer one on top of a short, fatter one. The top barrel fired a .36 or .42 round from the gun's cylinder. The barrel underneath, however, only fired one shot, a 16-gauge shotgun blast. That just sounds cool. And it's sort of a pretty piece of mechanical ingenuity.

Mateba Model Unica 6

Designed and developed in Italy in 1997, this is an automatic revolver. A what? That's right, an automatic revolver. They exist, they're just very rare. Instead of having to cock back a hammer to rotate the cylinder, recoil from the weapon would automatically rotate the cylinder. Another odd thing is that the barrel is lined up with the bottom of the cylinder, not the top as in almost every other revolver ever made.

.600 Nitro Express Zeliska

According to Pfeifer, the maker of this firearm, this is the largest handgun in the world today. It's 22 inches long and weighs just a tad more than 13 pounds. This is also said to be the worlds most powerful handgun. Also, each of these weapons is made individually, so they're definitely for collectors.

SwissMiniGun

We had the world's largest handgun, now we've got the world's smallest. And yes, this is an actual gun that fires 2.34 mm rimfire round. It works just like any other modern, double-action revolver, except it's really tiny. Made in Switzerland, of course.

Webley Fosbery Automatic Revolver

This is another of those very rare automatic revolvers, made in Britain about the time of World War I. Another unusual feature about this Webley Fosbery is that it is one of the few revolvers that actually has a manual safety. Manual safeties are practically unknown on revolvers, though that is changing somewhat today with a few of the most modern of sidearms.

Walch Navy Model Revolver

The is probably the most down-to-earth of all the revolvers listed here. What's so special about this black powder weapon manufactured from 1859 to 1862 in New York? Well, for one thing, it holds 12 shots. It's true, a revolver that holds 12 rounds. Man, you were loaded for bear when packing one of these.