Welcome, in case you are a newcomer to this enjoyable bi-weekly section of AllOutdoor.com! The final time round was an entire host of articles masking the German Mauser 1914 and its prolonged household of pistols. We began out by masking historical past, variations, specs, vary time, and aftermarket components. At the moment we get to run by means of a revolver that I admittedly know little or no about. That is the J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal additionally typically known as the Hawes Firearms Co Western Marshal. These West German-made revolvers have been imported into the US and so they have been meant to be pretty cheap. As an unfortunate byproduct, the cheap weapons in world historical past often get drowned out and forgotten. That being mentioned there may be not a tome of data on these on the market and what there may be I take with a grain of salt. Please preserve that in thoughts whereas studying ahead. Let’s dive proper into the J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22!
Welcome to our recurring sequence of “Curious Relics.” Right here, we wish to share all of our experiences, data, misadventures, and fervour for older firearms that one may categorize as a Curio & Relic – any firearm that’s at the least 50 years previous in line with the ATF. Hopefully alongside the way in which you’ll be able to garner a higher appreciation for older firearms like we do, and concurrently you’ll be able to educate us issues as effectively by means of sharing your personal experience and ideas within the Feedback. Understanding the firearms of previous, their significance, and their growth which result in lots of the arms we now cherish right this moment is extremely fascinating and we hope you get pleasure from what we now have to share, too!
Historical past Abridged: J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22
The Nineteen Forties and Nineteen Fifties have been crammed with western motion pictures and tales coming again to life and being imprinted into the American psyche. Fathers who yearned to be cowboys since their youth all of a sudden had little boys of their very own begging for division retailer costumes and catalog bb weapons. The true deal Colt Single Motion Military revolvers have been (and nonetheless are) ridiculously costly. All in the identical body of time beginning round 1950 as much as 1960 there started to be a motion of cheaper copies of the nice previous Single Motion Military. Colt themselves would produce aluminum and alloy framed 22 revolvers such because the Colt Single-Motion Frontier Scout which we now have beforehand lined on Curious Relics (hyperlink right here). One such product of this need was the J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22 at its centerfire family.
Earlier than going underneath the microscope we now have to take a number of leaps again to grasp the place and why these Sixties pot metallic revolvers happened. After World Battle Two J.P. Sauer & Sohn establishes a brand new base of operations in Eckernförde, West Germany. Throughout an area of three years, an engineer by the title of William R. Wilson got down to manufacture and export copies of the famed Colt 1873 Single Motion Military. This started the formation of the Nice Western Arms Firm which in flip enlisted Haywood “Hy” Hunter and his mail order catalogs to deal with the importation and distribution of those new 1873 single-action revolver clones. These Hy Hunter catalogs grew to become an excellent advertising and marketing pressure for these western revolvers however sadly, they have been the one advertising and marketing. This resulted within the Nice Western Arms Firm going into monetary turmoil with one investor/debtor taking management and eliminating Hy Hunter in favor of E&M (Early & Fashionable Firearms, Inc.) and Stoeger. By late 1958 the Nice Western Arms Firm goes bankrupt and ceases to fabricate.
At this level (roughly round 1959) Hy Hunter comes up with a proposal to J.P. Sauer & Sohn to fabricate the identical Single Motion Military clones that the Nice Western Firm had made and that he can be the only real distributor in the US. By late 1960 roughly 300,000 “Western Six Shooter” revolvers, as they have been marketed, have been produced. These have been supposedly made in various barrel lengths and have been in 22, 22 Magazine, 38/357, 44 Magazine, and 45 Colt. By 1960 these revolvers had gained recognition and can be dependable clones to choose up into the mid-Sixties. Apparently, round 1964 Hy hunter and his firm went by means of some odd and complicated authorized battles (concerning the importation of stuff like machine weapons) which might be outdoors of my scope of concern so far as analysis right this moment. Moreover Hy hunter being compelled to stop importation and distribution, I’m not certain what occurred within the window between then and the following paragraph timestamp.
Roughly round 1967, the Hawes Firearms Firm is shaped by a former worker of the Hy Hunter conglomerate and begins importing and distributing the beforehand talked about revolvers however with new names corresponding to Western Marshal, Montana Marshal, Deputy Marshal, Federal Marshal, Chief Marshal, and Silver Metropolis Marshal. Preliminary 1967 and 1968 revolvers did nonetheless have the title “Western Six Shooter”. The Hawes Firearms Firm would proceed to import and distribute the J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22 (and its centerfire counterparts) all the way in which up till roughly 1980 when the Hawes Firearms firm goes out of enterprise due to an excellent many lawsuits concerning unintended discharges. I’ve not learn of any explicit fault to attribute to the reason for these unintended discharges moreover these revolvers having a frame-mounted firing pin with no switch bar system.
Finish of Half One: J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22
So closes out the primary a part of the J.P. Sauer & Sohn Western Marshal 22. I hope it was informative. As I discussed within the opening paragraph, discovering this data was troublesome and very scattered. A few of it very effectively could possibly be misconstrued by me or different authors in addition to being completely incorrect. I apologize prematurely if extra in-depth work comes out and divulges such notions however for now, I’ve to stay with what I do know and current it as such and transparently. if something new or related pops up I’ll strive to return and amend no matter is critical. See you subsequent time!
In closing, I hope our Curious Relics section knowledgeable in addition to entertained. This all was written in hopes of continued firearm appreciation and preservation. We didn’t simply notice how weapons have been purported to look and performance. It was an extended and tedious course of that has formed the world we dwell in. So, I put it to you! Is there a firearm on the market that you just really feel doesn’t get a lot notoriety? What ought to our subsequent Curious Relics subject cowl? As all the time, tell us all your ideas within the Feedback under! We all the time respect your suggestions.
