Annely Snaphaunce Revolver – Dockery Armory CODE – 01-131-750NAME – Annely Snaphaunce RevolverTYPE - RevolverCOUNTRY OF ORIGIN – Great BritainDATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1750’sCALIBER – 10.11 mm (.398 in)OVERALL LENGTH – 45.2 cm (17.8 in)BARREL LENGTH – 13.7 cm (5.39 in)RIFLING (TYPE & TWIST) – SmoothboreBULLET DIAMETER – 10.11 mm (0.398 in)BULLET WEIGHT – 6 g (92 grains)MUZZLE VELOCITY – 137

CODE – 01-131-750

NAME – Annely Snaphaunce Revolver

TYPE – Revolver

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – Great Britain

DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1750’s

CALIBER – 10.11 mm (.398 in)

OVERALL LENGTH – 45.2 cm (17.8 in)

BARREL LENGTH – 13.7 cm (5.39 in)

RIFLING (TYPE & TWIST) – Smoothbore

BULLET DIAMETER – 10.11 mm (0.398 in)

BULLET WEIGHT – 6 g (92 grains)

MUZZLE VELOCITY – 137 m/s (450 fps) *

MUZZLE ENERGY – 56 j (41 ft/lb) *

WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 1.29 kg (2 lb 13.5 oz)

WEIGHT (LOADED) – 1.35 kg (2 lb 15.6 oz) loaded with 8 rounds *

SIGHTS – None

EFFECTIVE RANGE – 20 m (22 yards) *

OPERATION – Manual, Single-action

TYPE OF FIRE – Manual repeating

RATE OF FIRE – 8 rpm

FEED DEVICE – 8-round cylinder

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 1.62 g (25 grains) black powder, 6 g (92 grains) Ball – per round *

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (LOADED) – Eight rounds – 0.013 kg (200 grains) black powder, .048 kg (736 grains) Ball *

MANUFACTURER – Thomas Annely, Gunmaker, Bristol, England

STATUS – Antique

SERVICE – None known, commercial sales

Thomas Annely was a gunmaker in Bristol, England who produced his weapons in the mid-1700s. It is suspected that he was the manufacturer of this weapon as his name is on the lockplate. This is one of the earlier true revolvers, where the fixed barrel is in front of a rotating cylinder holding the chambers. It was made well into the time that the flintlock action was popular. However, this design utilizes a snaphaunce action with separate flash pan covers and frizzen. It is likely that the use of the separate frizzen is needed for the cylinder to be able to rotate freely underneath the firing mechanism. Each flash pan in the cylinder has a separate sliding cover to retain the powder charge as the cylinder rotates. The flash pan covers are relatively thick and fit into guides on either side of the cover and are each held down with an individual leaf spring. The covers have a stud on their muzzle end that is engaged by a long lever attached to the side of the hammer. When the hammer is drawn back to full cock, the long lever is drawn back to where it can snap over the stud on the priming pan cover. The frizzen would act much as a firing safety since the weapon cannon be fired unless the frizzen is pulled down into position manually.

When the trigger is pulled, the hammer goes forward to strike against the frizzen and create sparks. The long lever on the side of the hammer pushed against the stud on the flash pan cover of the chamber about to be fired. As the hammer strikes the frizzen for ignition, the flash pan cover is fully open with the priming charge exposed to the sparks. Drawing back the hammer would allow the shooter to manually rotate the cylinder to where it would index with the barrel for the next shot. Eight shots could be fired rapidly, very fast for the flintlock era. Reloading the revolver would be a much slower process.

*-Estimated according to best available data

: A right-side view of the Annely Snaphaunce revolver. In the snaphaunce system, the frizzen is separate from the flash pan cover and is flipped down for use. The flash pan cover would be moved to expose the priming charge prior to the weapon being fired. Even though this specimen was built well into the era of the true flintlock, using the snaphaunce system allows the weapon to operate more securely and safely. Each sliding flash pan cover on the cylinder is in the forward (fired) position in this picture to show the hollow dish area of the priming pan with the flash hole on the bottom side. These flash pan covers would be slid back to secure the priming charge once the pan had been charged. The dark lever along the right side of each flash pan cover is the steel spring that helps hold the cover in position. On the front left corner of each cover is a stud that is acted on by the action bar attached to the cock. The action bar slides the pan cover forward as the cock falls when the weapon is fired. The action bar can be seen in the forward position below and on the left side of the cock, which is down in the fired position. The name of the maker can be seen on the side of the lockwork, just behind the cock. PHOTO CREDIT: ROYAL ARMORIES, ENGLAND

: A forward view of the right side of the Annely snaphaunce revolver. The mouth of the chambers can be seen at the front of the cylinder. The action bar guide is the square piece below the jaws of the cock. It helps keep the spring of the action bar pressed down against the cylinder as the bar opens the priming pan cover as the weapon is fired. Each priming pan cover would be slid back into the closed position as the weapons was being charged with powder. The frizzen is snapped up in the fired position. PHOTO CREDIT: ROYAL ARMORIES, ENGLAND