my profile |
register |
faq |
search upload photo | donate | calendar |
11-13-2012, 04:30 PM | #1 |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal...
Posts: 8,182
Thanks: 1,400
Thanked 4,442 Times in 2,330 Posts
|
Warner 'Infallible'
I recently realized one of my goals in 'accumulating' Turn Of The Century semi-auto handguns...A Warner Infallible!!!
This has variously been described as the ugliest pistol...As the most unsafe pistol...And as the most awkward pistol... ...And it is!!! The 32 ACP Warner (and Davis-Warner) Infallibles were made from ~1916 to ~1919. This one (serial 1734) dates to 1916. It is an early type (there were three distinct types and numerous variations among types) with the bolt-disconnect lever rather than the later pin. The lever allowed the bolt to be drawn back without the pressure of the dual recoil springs. This lever (a cross-pin on later models) is the 'unsafest' aspect of the pistol. It was possible to c0ck, chamber, and fire a round with the recoil springs disconnected, leaving only a slender pin to stop the breechblock from its rearward travel. Being as it was a blowback pistol, this made it very dangerous...to the user... It also had an unusual frame...It was made from cast iron...The barrel is pinned in place. The grips on this early Warner were taken from the Warner-imported 1909 Schwarzlose and do not conform to the Infallible frame until the next type appeared (with straight grip frame and its own grips). The Infallible is ponderous to hold, and balances somewhere around your wrist...It weighs 24 ounces (!) and has a 3 3/4" barrel. Seven rounds in the magazine. OAL is 7 3/4" and height is 5". I can only get two fingers around the grip; my little finger hangs out in the breeze... The pic with the two red circles illustrates how it can be left and fired in the unsafe condition (recoil springs disconnected). I've always wanted one of these ever since I first saw a pic of one. According to the seller [on GB], a collector of Infallibles sold them his entire collection...29 Infallibles! This was the only one with the early lever disconnect, so this was the one I wanted (despite there being much nicer cross-pin examples). This will be the centerpiece of my Turn-Of-The-Century handgun collection!!!
__________________
I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter... |
11-13-2012, 07:00 PM | #2 |
User
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 312
Thanks: 335
Thanked 93 Times in 70 Posts
|
Interesting pistol. I got an article out of one of the older GunDigests on them. I definately would not want to have that decide to disassemble in my face that's for sure if that let loose.
__________________
Dave |
11-13-2012, 07:10 PM | #3 |
User
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Washington State
Posts: 99
Thanks: 67
Thanked 20 Times in 9 Posts
|
Looks more like an apprentices first chopping on a blank frame block! What a fascinating piece! Thanks for sharing!
|
11-13-2012, 07:55 PM | #4 | |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal...
Posts: 8,182
Thanks: 1,400
Thanked 4,442 Times in 2,330 Posts
|
Quote:
...This was one of the more bizarre alternatives... And it is quite top-heavy as well... But it is definitely cool...Only three major parts, and about a dozen small ones... Another aspect of the Infallible pointed out was that most blowbacks used a heavy slide and a weak recoil spring...The Infallible used a weak slide [bolt, actually - no slide] and heavy recoil springs...That was the reason for the 'disconnect' lever; to relieve pressure when cocking it - You could disconnect the recoil springs and chamber a round with only the firing pin spring giving minimal opposition...
__________________
I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter... |
|
11-13-2012, 08:13 PM | #5 |
Super Moderator
Eternal Lifer LugerForum Patron Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: North of Spokane, WA
Posts: 15,928
Thanks: 2,028
Thanked 4,525 Times in 2,090 Posts
|
ugly, ugly, ugly
would look fine at my house |
11-14-2012, 10:04 AM | #6 |
User
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,149
Thanks: 159
Thanked 663 Times in 318 Posts
|
I have a weak spot for the ugly and bizarre, and this one even beats the Nambu T-94 and Dreyse 1907. Extremely cool!
|
11-14-2012, 10:21 AM | #7 |
User
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: So Cal
Posts: 459
Thanks: 774
Thanked 143 Times in 87 Posts
|
Postino
Fun stuff! Never heard of a cast iron frame in a auto pistol! I imagine with all that weight the felt recoil is very light. How does it shoot? Thanks for the post. Bob
__________________
"I think,therefore I own guns" |
11-14-2012, 10:40 AM | #8 | |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal...
Posts: 8,182
Thanks: 1,400
Thanked 4,442 Times in 2,330 Posts
|
Quote:
It's a wall hanger... (We had a guy back in boot camp. 1969-70...Italian immigrant, passable English, but not fluent...lemme check my boot camp 'yearbook'..."N. Dessardo"...Nice guy; always smiling...He's listed as graduating with my platoon...While at the rifle range, we spent a day 'fam-firing' the 45 auto...Somehow he got the idea that his thumb should be straight-up behind the slide when it was fired...He still had the cast on at our Final Review... I don't need that...)
__________________
I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter... |
|
11-14-2012, 10:55 AM | #9 |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal...
Posts: 8,182
Thanks: 1,400
Thanked 4,442 Times in 2,330 Posts
|
Heh...Just cleaning the frame innards...and noticed that the magazine release (at the bottom of the grip) is the 'stirrup' type...Like the M1911 trigger...Fully encircles the magazine...
I guess Browning patented the button magazine release... (The finish is a nice brown patina...)
__________________
I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter... |
11-14-2012, 04:33 PM | #10 |
Patron
LugerForum Patron Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Az.
Posts: 2,289
Thanks: 2,704
Thanked 971 Times in 716 Posts
|
|
11-14-2012, 04:44 PM | #11 |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: The Capital of the Free World
Posts: 10,153
Thanks: 3,003
Thanked 2,304 Times in 1,096 Posts
|
It is even uglier than the model 1900 Browning... you own one of those too don't you Postino?
__________________
regards, -John S "...We hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created EQUAL and are endowed by their Creator with certain UNALIENABLE rights, and among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness..." |
11-14-2012, 05:53 PM | #12 | |
Lifer
Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal...
Posts: 8,182
Thanks: 1,400
Thanked 4,442 Times in 2,330 Posts
|
Quote:
If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life Make an ugly woman your wife In my personal point of view Get an ugly girl to marry you... If you're ugly, you're ugly as sin... But, beautiful's out, ugly's in... If you're ugly like me, You're in good company. There's a lot of us who are ugly.
__________________
I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter... |
|
11-15-2012, 05:35 AM | #13 |
User
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: South America
Posts: 948
Thanks: 598
Thanked 584 Times in 254 Posts
|
Never heard of it before!
Thanks a lot for the presentation of this very unique pistol. Douglas. |
|
|