22 Cal MADE IN GERMANY

trolleytrout

I HAVE WHAT APPEARS TO BE AN 8 SHOT RIM FIRE 22 CAL. PISTOL. IT HAS AN OCTAGON 2 _" BARREL, WOODEN GRIPS, HAS A SLANTED HOLE ON TOP OF THE BARREL ABOUT ?" UP. ONLY MARKS IS "MADE IN GERMANY". ANY INFORMATION ON AGE AND VALUE?
THANKS
GREG

Stack

Your pistol is a starter, or blank, pistol and may have been manufactured by Bernhard Paatz of Zella-Mehlis, Germany prior to WWII. Are you certain it is 8 shots? The cylinder doesn't appear to have 8 locking slots.

trolleytrout

Yes the cylinder has 8 stops

rufe-snow

It's very unusual, notwithstanding the "Made In Germany" marking. That it doesn't have German proof marks.

Unless it dates to the early 1890's, which is supported by the frame made without a top strap. The open top strap type revolvers were a older design, that was faulty and fragile and fell out of use by the 1880's.

trolleytrout

So does this mean I can sell it without using an FFL?

Stack

It can be sold without an FFL providing the barrel hasn't been bored through to allow firing of bulleted cartridges.

trolleytrout

Well, now I'm really confused. This must NOT be a Starter Pistol. Its bored all the way through. It must be a .22 cal. Pistol. Now again I'm looking for information as to the age. Any other ideas?

hrf

quote:Originally posted by trolleytrout
Well, now I'm really confused. This must NOT be a Starter Pistol. Its bored all the way through. It must be a .22 cal. Pistol. Now again I'm looking for information as to the age. Any other ideas?


It is a blank pistol, as Stack states. Are you certain it doesn't just have a shallow hole at muzzle? See the 2nd gun shown here, which he states has only a 3mm fake bore:

http://www.littlegun.info/arme allemande/artisan o p q r/a paatz gb.htm

trolleytrout

The hole (a little off center of the barrel) goes all the way through to the back of the cylinder.

Stack

The "slanted hole" on the top of the barrel is where the gases from blank cartridges vent and, usually, indicates the barrel beyond the "slanted hole" is solid, having no bore. Why have the "slanted hole" and a bored out barrel to vent the blank cartridge gases? If the revolver, originally a starter pistol, is capable of chambering .22 caliber bulleted cartridges, firing can result in injury, or worse.

rufe-snow

quote:Originally posted by trolleytrout
Well, now I'm really confused. This must NOT be a Starter Pistol. Its bored all the way through. It must be a .22 cal. Pistol. Now again I'm looking for information as to the age. Any other ideas?


Some shade tree gun butcher in the long distant past screwed with it. Since it's very unlikely that he bothered rifling the hole he drilled in the barrel, it's now a NFA weapon, i.e. handgun with a unrifled barrel. Do yourself a favor, get rid of it before it causes you more grief then it's worth.