The old Lefaucheux revolvers had been obsolete for many years already, and the open frame was fragile. In 1893 the Norwegian Army and Navy adopted the 7.5mm Nagant revolver. The enlisted men's revolvers were mainly issued to cavalry troopers and artillerymen. All the Lefaucheux revolvers used in Norway are marked with the Norwegian lion on right side of the barrel. In addition, the small-arms factory at Kongsberg produced 200 enlisted men’s revolvers in 1868. The enlisted men’s revolvers had round barrels, while the officers’ revolvers had octagonal barrels. In 1864, the Norwegian army also ordered 1100 single-action revolvers for enlisted men, as well as 200 single-action revolvers and 200 double-action revolvers for officers. In 1864 the navy ordered 300 more, in addition to 200 double-action revolvers. In 1859 the Norwegian navy ordered 800 single-action 11mm revolvers from Lefaucheux in Paris.
The first Lefaucheux revolver was patented in 1854, and when the French navy adopted a six-shot 12mm Lefaucheux revolver in 1858 France became the first country to officially adopt a metallic cartridge for military use. But the system also had its disadvantages and was relatively short-lived. The pinfire cartridges allowed for easy loading without the use of fragile paper cartridges, loose caps and ramrods.
Unlike the percussion revolvers of the era, the Lefaucheux revolvers were loaded with a metallic cartridge with pinfire ignition. Norway’s first military revolver was a pinfire revolver invented by the Frenchman Eugène Lefaucheux in the 1850s. A Paris'.Īll Norwegian-issue Lefaucheux revolvers are marked with a Norwegian lion. The barrel is marked with Eugène Lefaucheux' address: 'E.
#12mm lefaucheux revolver serial number
The top-strap is marked with the last four digits of the serial number and the K marking of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk (Kongsberg small-arms factory).
Model 1864/98 Lefaucheux as seen from above. This is how the revolver looked like before it was reinforced with the top-strap in 1898.