Guy's,
Just thought you might be interested in my research on this old gun. German's consider the Reichrevolver as important as our Colt SAA. In many ways they are similar, black powder, big cartridge and used in peace and war time. Here is some information I received from a noted collector in Germany.
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The gun is proof marked AR for Albert Rex the King of Saxony at that time. The revolver was ordered on 6th of May 1891 within a lot of 4,000 pieces. The order was placed because the gunners of the field artillery had to be armed with the revolver. At the end of October 1891 the gun was inspected. (The 92 on the frame must be the date the revolver went into service, 1892) My gun has been assembled with parts from many factories in Suhl and has civilian acceptance stamps on these parts.
The S under the serial number is for Saxony and the holster was also made in Saxony (Leipzig)
Concerning the holster, it is unit marked 78.A on the inside and indicates: Feldartillrie- Regiment Nr. 78. It was founded in 1901 and was stationed in a small town named Wurzen (10 miles west of Leipzig). The unit back strap stamp means: Feldartillerie- Regiment Nr. 48, 3. Batterie, Waffe 55 . This regiment was stationed in
Dresden and founded in 1899.
The Reichsrevolvers were not issued during WWII as often mentioned, there was an American order in 1944/45 for the civilians to deliver all the guns they had to a central collection area.
(Jokingly the German collectors say today that this order was introduced by American collectors in the military!!).
It is very interesting from a historical perspective what you can learn from an old, foreign revolver, if you do the work!
Mark
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