Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian, I am here today at the Rock Island
Auction Company. I am taking a look at
some of the guns, like this one, that are coming up
for sale in their April of 2016 Premier Auction.
I've looked at a bunch of small
turn-of-the-century pocket pistols,
and this is a particularly interesting one.
This is a Model of 1900 (I'm going to butcher this) Brun-Latrige. ...
If you went with just straight American guttural pronunciation it'd be Brun-Latrige.
This was manufactured by Manufrance in Saint-Étienne, France.
And what's interesting about it is that the earlier ring-trigger version
in a 5mm millimetre cartridge is reasonably common.
Which is to say that you can actually find reference to it.
This is a slightly different mechanical version with a folding trigger instead of a ring trigger.
And it's chambered for a 7.5 or 8mm cartridge, probably 8mm.
And this version I had a very difficult time finding any references to.
So why don't I bring the camera back here, because you can barely see this thing from back there,
and it's worth getting a closer look at.
One thing you'll notice about these early pocket pistols
is that a lot of them kind of have horrible ergonomics.
You look at them and they've got these little tiny pistol grips,
or triggers that are kind of awkwardly placed.
And that's something that jumped out at me the first time I actually picked this one up,
is that this actually feels really remarkably good in the hand.
It fits well, it's got this folding trigger which, again, fits the hand quite well.
It sits nice and low, it's actually got a good back strap to it.
This is actually a pretty cool little piece to hold.
Now the way this works, of course you have a folding trigger.
And, by the way, there is a safety built in.
This trigger hits a latch, so it can't move any farther back than that unless it's actually folded down.
And when it's folded up it fits nicely in a pocket.
Be easy to get a little pocket holster for this if you were so inclined.
So mechanically the way this works is you fold down the trigger,
which then clears the little safety block here, and allows you to pull the trigger.
When you pull the trigger you'll see that a pin comes out the back.
That's the actual firing pin, or striker.
It comes back when you're firing, and then goes forward.
Now we look inside the gun, and you'll see the firing pin there.
When I pull the trigger the firing pin goes back.
And when I pull the trigger I'm also pulling the barrel back, you can see it coming right there.
We have a magazine. That's the follower down inside there.
That magazine extends into the grip.
So the 5mm version of this gun had a 10 round magazine.
I haven't found a definitive reference, but just from the length of the grip here,
I suspect this also has a 10 round magazine, maybe 8 rounds, but 10 wouldn't surprise me.
So when you're going to fire you've got actually a little groove right back here,
it's kind of hard to see, but there's a groove.
There, you can see it better on that side. Sorry, there's a bit of grease down in there.
This groove holds onto the rim of the cartridge cases.
So when you load it you're putting cartridges in that groove,
and then pushing them down into the magazine.
There may have been some sort of clip that allowed you to load this more easily.
But then again it's a civilian pocket pistol, there may not have been.
At any rate, your spring follower is pushing cartridges up.
That groove is holding them back.
And when you pull the trigger the barrel is going to come back, pick up the tip of a bullet,
and it's going to slowly pull a cartridge up into the barrel
as you pull the trigger all the way back.
Once you're at the full rearward extension, the barrel is fully encompassing the cartridge,
then the sear drops the striker, that fires the gun.
So, boom, bullet goes out the little muzzle there.
So when it actually fires you've got the trigger pulled all the way back,
and the muzzle is actually back here.
So the bullet flies out through that front half inch or so of frame.
Anyway, once you go to release the trigger the barrel goes forward,
the cartridge case is going to be held by these two grooves.
And then this bit right here, right there, that is your ejector.
So that is going to be sitting below the cartridge case when it loads.
And then when the barrel goes all the way forward a cam pushes that up,
which is going to kick the empty cartridge case up and out of the gun.
That will free up space for the next round to get pushed up by the follower,
so that you can fire it again.
Now, to prevent junk from getting in there, there is a sliding cover on the gun.
However, it's interesting to note that pulling the trigger does not automatically open that cover.
There is in fact a block in there, you cannot fire the gun if the dust cover is closed.
So if you're going to use this, you have to draw it, flip that open,
and then you can start shooting.
Here are our markings, we have a "Modele 1900" mark on the right side of the barrel.
... This gun was originally patented in 1894.
Patents were filed in France, Belgium and Italy, as well as in the United States.
In the US the patent was granted in 1896.
I believe the ring trigger version probably came first.
That's what the patent describes, that's what the patent pictures show.
And that would have been a 5mm gun.
Now Manufrance, the company that manufactured this, also made the Gaulois,
kind of a squarish French pocket pistol, also from the mid to late 1890s.
And it appears to me that this ... gun uses the same ammunition as the 8mm Gaulois.
So that would be a 1.8 gram ... bullet at 150 metres per second.
That translates to about 28 grains ... at about 490 feet per second.
So it's kind of a piddly little cartridge, but that sort of thing was fairly common at this time period.
Now there's our maker and location.
I'm not even going to try to pronounce that again because I think I'm butchering it.
But Paul Brun-Latrige (OK, we'll try it) was a director of Manufrance,
which was also the Manufacture Française D'Armes Et Cycles De Saint-Etienne.
They were kind of like the Sears Roebuck of France.
Opening in 1885, they were a mail-order catalogue company that sold all sorts of things,
most notably bicycles, sewing machines, and firearms.
So he was one of the directors there.
He appears to have put his talent to use, designed this thing,
and then had his own company sell it because, hey, why not?
There is only a front sight on here, there is no rear sight.
You know, this is a point-blank sort of range piece.
As I said at the beginning, this piece really feels good in the hand.
It's lightweight, the grip is shaped very well, and the trigger just works.
It's a pretty heavy trigger pull because you are fighting both the striker spring and a barrel spring.
Because of course when it fires, you want the barrel to be pulled back forward.
So you get two fingers on it, and that really works just fine.
Thanks for watching guys, I hope you enjoyed the video.
This is a really neat little old-school pocket pistol.
Actually one, if it weren't for the really wimpy cartridge, it's really not a bad design.
It is of course coming up for sale. If you'd be interested in having it yourself,
probably not to carry - but I suppose you could if you wanted to,
well, check the description text below.
You'll find a link to Rock Island's catalogue page on this little guy.
And you can take a look at their pictures and description,
and place a bid right there on the website if you're so inclined.
Thanks for watching.