Walch Navy 12-Shot Revolver
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- / forgottenweapons
Patented by John Walch in 1859, this is a .36 caliber revolver using superimposed chambers - meaning that each of the six chambers could hold two shots, for a total of 12 rounds before reloading. The revolver has two hammers and two side by side triggers, with the trigger for the front loading being positioned slightly ahead of the rear load's trigger, to help ensure that they are fired in the correct order.
While the 12-shot capacity was a major advantage over other revolvers of the period, number of significant disadvantages (weak charges because of the small chamber capacity and the safety hazards of a misfire or accidental firing of the rear load first) led to it being produced only in small numbers. About 200 of these .36 caliber Navy guns were made, and only for commercial sale. They did see use in the Civil War, though, as did most other guns in production at the time. A much more popular version was the 10-shot, .31 caliber pocket model.
I work at a small town museum and we actually have one of these. No one at the museum could figure out what type of gun it was. Not even the donator knew what it was when he gave it to us 30 years ago. This video helped us figure out what type of gun it was. Thanks for helping us figure out a 30 year mystery Ian.
Was it in .31 cal or .36 cal?
This highlights the important work Ian does
What museum do you work for? I'd like to send a formal offer to purchase the revolver.
Buahhha goodluck @@Jake_Steiner
@@temper.temper if the condition was right, I'd offer them top dollar for it. Money talks bullshit walks. Keep being a condescending asshole though, I'm sure it will get you places.
I know what you’re thinking - did he fire twelve shots, or only eleven?
YEah...the one facing the busines end can ask himself...do I feel lucky today..
Ash Richards Do you punk?
11, never carry your revolver with a loaded chamber behind the hammer.
Come on punk, make my day !
@@glimpyrimpy6258 so it's 10, two hammers .
First double stack magazine
Pete Hiller not a mag
Cringebaby2003 *Everyone hated that*
@@niconline2834 why are you the way that you are?
Single feed 😝
Only one I know that you don't have a problem with spring tension on loading
@@niconline2834 name checks out
These make appearances in at least one Louis Lamour novel. The main character carried a pair of six shooters long enough for the villains to get used to them. Then when the trouble really heated up, he switched them for a pair of these. The bad guys didn't understand why he wasn't empty after six shots.
Showdown at Yellow Butte and Lando?
Yes.
Dang it I came here to say this lol good catch
What made me look up this gun was Mistakes Can Kill You by Louis Lamour. Just listened to it on audiobook.
One of these shows up in the Corrigan Brothers books by Cotton Smith in the hands of the one-armed brother Blue. For obvious reasons.
The dual firing is reminiscent of the AN-94's impulse firing, just with the added risk of a misfire blowing the gun up.
This seems super dangerous, especially if the first ball doesn't seal fully
My concern would be if you pressed the second trigger too quickly, and the first ball was a squib, you basically fired with a bore obstruction.
Edward Olson, Or the front cap doesnt fire..😣
A hangfire with the first cap would cause SERIOUS problems using it in the rapid fire mode.
It’s really not that big a deal. I shove two balls in my colt when I’m out hunting. You won’t blow up the gun, as long as the projectiles are tight together. The balls barely even spread on target and look like one hole.
But with this gun, if the front charge doesn’t leave the barrel, then you have a problem because it’s not tight against the rear charge.
Most of the time I agree with Ian, but with this I have to dispute
Rock Island & James D Julia should pay you bucketloads of money for this service, Ian. You really promote their auctions in the best possible way.
I would guess when the Auction house has someone with too many questions about a gun, just provide a link to Ian's video.. then go from there.
Im sure he gets some ad revenue. That and its obvious he loves doing this.
Yeah you can even find these videos on Amazon so he's doing okay
He totally deserves the respect. He should be a prof at a respectable university if firearms were not a "loaded" topic politically. There is probably a guy who is an expert on sex toys who has tenure.
@@lanceluthor6660 Well yes, it’s hard to murder anyone with a sex toy. That’s why there’s no school massacres carried out with rampant rabbits or butt-plugs.
I would love see this gun fire 2 bullets in rapid succession in ultra slowmotion! it should be amazing to watch
+PowderedMonkey I was just thinking the same thing. That would be awesome to see.
Find someone crazy enough to
1. Shoot a crazy antique
2. Shoot this terrifying monstrosity in particular
Probably like the double barrel 1911 fireing in slo mo
@@mrbushwookie6051 Jerry Michulek made a video dual wielding the dual 1911's, shooting like 28 or 32 rounds in a few seconds or something, it was cool to watch, but It would be one shot after the other with this thing rather than side by side pistols
@@firstname4097 yea I've seen that
What if the first chamber misfires and you fire the second - does it turn into a hand grenade then?
+Nikolaj Hansen Possibly, yeah.
something about glocks something something
+Starman nice.
+Nikolaj Hansen hopefully you woudn't pull the second trigger if you see a failure
It will remove you from the gene pool through natural selection if your not alert to how you fire it.
I am very glad to get to see a video dealing with a Walch Navy 12. I have read about them where I could, after hearing of them in a few of Louis L-Amour's books (he like featuring some pretty interesting guns of times throughout his works). Awesome to get to see one and how it works! Thank you very much!
Very interesting revolver design :) Well done Ian.
@@FutureBoyWonder Well done doing a video on the design/revolver. Talk about being a goof boy... lol
I remember reading a Louis L'Amour book that mentioned this gun in it. I couldn't mentally visualized what was going on with two Hammers and two triggers but this video explains it all, thank you!
One of these Walch Navy's has been in my family for over a century and currently resides with an uncle of mine. In the 1960's we still used to shoot it fairly often, but I don't think it has been fired since the mid 70's. I remember at least once lighting off the back charge first and the pistol did not show any apparent damage, although I am sure the pressures were much higher than intended.
It would be incredibly if your uncle would lend it to Ian for a shooting demonstration video.
Video's like these is what I really like about the channel, what an awesome piece of history that gun is! Keep up the good work Ian!
So you could say that this revolver has a very primtive type of "burst fire" when pulling both triggers in one pull?
Yup that is awsome
Yeah, unless the front charge messes up and you now have a literal hand grenade
It's like a predecessor to the G11
About the civil war anecdote, hogs can be hard to kill sometimes. We had one running across the highway that got hit by a truck at about 70mph, it landed right at the entrance to my friends property. It couldn't move and was suffering, so my friend went to shoot it. A .44 Magnum at almost point blank range, right to the head... After 5 shots it was still alive.
😂. That is a crazy story dude hahaha. Here I was thinking a .44 was enough stopping power. Guess I’ll be carrying my .50 cal as my bug for if my .44 magnum doesn’t do the job
Super neat! I've read books with these guns in them and could not picture in my mind how they worked. Awesome stuff as usual. Love the channel.
Nice video and a great explanation on the workings of the gun. I have two of these that are in rough shape. I making parts to get them back in working order. Thanks for taking the time to take it apart and show the action...
I've been hoping to see a video of the Walch 12 shot Navy since the 10 shot pocket pistol video came out!
Thank you to Ian and the Forgotten Weapons crew and to the RIA and the seller.
This is just Excellent. Never heard of this gun until now but i love the uniqueness of this gun and how it operates. Thank u for bringing this to my attention
Super presentation of a rare firearm many thanks Ian. Best on CZcams by far.
Been reading Louis L'Amour and this gun pops up rather often. Nixe to see it. Thanks for the vid.
Western author Louis L'Amour featured these in several of his books.
My parents have just about every L'Amour book he ever wrote, and it's the only reason I even knew these existed and looked it up.
Yeah, love Louis Lamour, first place I ever heard of these guns and looked em up!
Louis L'Amour did a great amount of research for his writings. His knowledge of the areas, where his stories took place, was second to none.
I read Louis L’Amour every night as a 24yo living in Arizona his amount of knowledge on areas and the overall feel of his old west stories are amazing
Tony Hemingway yes it was amazing the research he put into the things mentioned in his books
i just wanted to say that as an individual who has a passion for both history and firearms you are an inspiring figure and i would love to meet and shake your hand for being so knowledgeable and intellectual in an otherwise bleak era.
I've read about them in books but this is the first time looking at one and how it functions . Thank you
Always wondered how this worked - finally I can sleep through :-D
Thanx for your presentations, you have a great channel!
thanks for sharing this. what a fascinating firearm!
This is nuts! The front charge will at least occasionally detonate the rear charge. My reproduction 1847 Walker Colt once set off an adjacent cylinder load one time. Amazing that it did not damage the gun (or blow the cylinder apart in my hand)! I have to make sure that I fill up the front of the cylinder loads with grease (Crisco or patch grease) to keep this from happening.
So what DOES happen after the chain-fire? Does the 2nd ball not damage the frame? Must scare one quite a bit when it happens.
@@AirGunScientist I lucked out and the adjacent cylinder detonation did not harm the revolver. The two simultaneous shots just recoiled harder.
one multishot I haven't seen on here, though there have been so many with the concept of stacked rounds, is one I saw in a museum which was an 8 shot rifle, which you loaded powder and ball on top of each other but the rifle had a flintlock mechanism on a track that after the first shot was fired you slid the lock itself back to the next vent hole and reprimed the pan and so on through all 8 shots. I'd love to see it taken for a closer look and to know the history behind it because a plaque in a museum isn't the same.
What a wonderful machine, I would love to see one day a slow motion video of the firing.
a very interesting and well done revolver.great video as usual
I absolutely love your videos! I especially love that I preempt what you'll say and you rarely dissapoint! 😂
Is it possible to cock one hammer at a time? Or would it be impossible because of the cylinder timing? I think I would rather fire all 6 front charges by only pulling the right hammer, then fire all 6 rear charges by pulling the left, seems much safer that way haha
+spyderxtra777
same question I was going to ask.
Maybe if there was a half-cock?
Very interesting, I enjoy the content you put out.
I wish you did more modern weapons; I am more interested in current designs, but appreciate your demeanour and proffessionaliam
I've heard about these but never seen one! I'm surprised at how sleek they are! I read an article once that said the only real problem with it, was the odd time a cylinder would fire both charges at the same time? They were a little heavier, but still a good gun. Thank you for allowing me to see one!!
First read about these almost 50 yrs ago in Louis Lamour.think the book was "lando" first time to actually see one.thanks so much.
Wow, not sure I'd shoot that contraption! Amazing engineering though! Thanks for the video, I've never heard of this revolver.
In 1975 there was a movie called "The Master Gunfighter" with Tom Laughlin where his character was a master swordsman, and gunfighter in the "old west". And he carried two "rare" 12 shot revolvers. They never mentioned the make of the revolvers, and everyone thought it was just movie bullcrap. These must be the "rare" revolvers that he carried.
that is nice looking revolver.
Quite an interesting design. The gun also looks nice.
This was really interesting, never seen this handgun in my entire life. I'm gonna subscribe, I like this haha
Hi Ian, I'm quite sure that you statistically have one of the top channels on YT concerning lack of dislikes!
I'm having my daily dose of Forgotten Weapons!
Thinking in the heat of battle even the most experienced shooter would be pulling both triggers in quick succession most of the time.
So basically, this is the first gun to feature "double whammy" option.
This gun, and its inventor were insane.....
Regarding the hog story of the revolver. If one hasn't been taught how to properly put a hog down with a firearm, they can be incredibly resilient. On a special deployment, a fireteam member, who was a city slicker, tried to put one down with an AK-47 so we'd have some meat. He emptied the mag into it's head and had to reload to actually kill it. The rest of us were laughing our arses off since he was freaking out that it wouldn't die.
That's why I put hogs down with a Barrett!
What? I like shredded ham!
Did it taste good at least? lol
So if a hog won't go down by popping it's head. What's the proper way?
@@xmo552 guess we'll never know. guess i'll have to empty two mags into its head and use the finely minced pig face meat for stews or something :/
@@xmo552 Heart or lungs.
Thank you, for doing this video. You may or may not know that this particular gun was central in a Louis Lamour novel "Lando", however the operation of the gun was not covered.
Well, this finally explains how drunken Curly kept firing and firing in Tombstone with what we all thought was a six-shooter.
Love your vids man!
Beautiful gun great craftmanship
These auction companies must love you for all the business you bring
There is mention of this revolver in Louis L'Amour's novelette Showdown on the Hogback. The protagonist has two of these and two S&W Russian .44s.
"12 shots.........this time I've got 12 shots!"
Twice as much to kill anything that moves.
@@VincentVega93 You're pretty good
@@smithwesson1896 Don't I know it, Jack. Let's let this ten minutes be the best of our lives.
@@VincentVega93 Nanomachines son!
Are you going to fight the whole world?
So that's what my ancestors were doing. Hell yeah
So many interesting designs in this time period
Metal Storm long before Metal Storm.
what happened to the Australian one?
Another company called "DefendTex" acquired them in 2015. From there not much has been publicised.
Tenchinically impressive, but this looks like something that could have easily blown up in your hands if not constantly maintained. Even doing that, an accidental pull of both triggers (common under pressure in combat, I would guess) would easily cause an accident in case of first shot misfire due to dirt or water in the chamber.
+Ghost81
It's a blackpowder gun, you need to keep it clean either way.
Rami Abi Akar
Yeah, but even the most compulsive cleaner can get some dirt in the chamber while in combat, especially with a revolver.
Ghost81
I have to give you credit, I never thought about the need to clean the long flash holes.
@me Me douche
Really interesting, but this one seems like an accident waiting to happen! Great video again!
Very cool..... Someone was really thinking outta the box on this one.
What brought me here was book Mistakes Can Kill You by Louis Lamour. Gunfight at the end Johnny used one of these.
Very Interesting. I always enjoy your work. Thanks
This is another case of, "there is no new thing under the sun" I literally learned just today about the "metal storm" a conceptual military weapon which uses a similar principal.
I've always wondered about these types of weapons; how do they keep those long flash channels clean?
AS usual Ian a very interesting video.
first read about this gun in a Louis la'more book can't remember the exact book right now though good to see an actual one for reference
Your sales pitches are the best. :3c
What a complex mechanism compared even to the most modern pistols and revolvers. Many thanks
These are really good looking guns. Seriously good looking. I could see Uberti or Pietta coming out with the "John Walch High Power". It would be a 36 or 44 with the same long cylinder with extremely strong steel. The gun would just shoot 6 (and have one hammer) but have the capacity for much higher power loads. Another advantage of the longer cylinder would be the ability to shoot longer conical bullets with higher loads (could be a big seller).
You have such an interesting job.
They really are beautiful revolvers. I don't know that I would trust one enough to fire it; it seems like a situation where slight fouling or other mechanical hick-up would be disastrous, but it is just damn pretty, especially when you see one with the bronze frame.
What a great gun,I have never seen a gun like this.i would love to see this pistol in action
I would love to see a video on this firing gun using multiple slow-mo cameras and a chronograph.
Top Man Ian you know your guns i saw a clip you did on the 50 mm krups mountain gun did Hotchkiss make the same type of gun Thanks ARMOUR
That looks so epic
Is the cylinder tapered behind the second charge to prevent the second charge being compressed when the first charge is fired?
Excellent observation.
+John McPherson No, but there is a step in the chamber to accomplish the same thing.
+John McPherson
Damn good question.
Forgotten Weapons ah, I see, thank you :)
+John McPherson saved me from having to ask.. was nagging at me the entire video
Two thoughts. One is that during the match last Saturday, I found that when I got excited or frustrated, I lost my trigger control (hence my terrible times on the kinetic targets). This is clearly the stress revealing a problem in my fundamentals, but I suspect it is not uncommon. I think there was probably a lot of double shots under stress.
Second, I wonder at the arrangement of the hand. Does cocking either hammer raise it? Could one fire the front charge (or have a misfire), then rotate the cylinder by cocking the right hammer without having fired the second?
That is really interesting. I guess a rail gun could work the same just a single barrel with multiple projectiles. Have it programed to start from the coil at the first round to the muzzle then have the program move the next coil for the next round.
beautiful gun
This was a favorite of author Louis L'Amour. Louis's heroes made good use of the extra rounds.
Have you ever covered the Belton flintlock musket or the puckle gun? If not, please do.
*spins guns excessively* 24 shots. This time I got 24 shots.
*Big boss dying inside*
pretty neat idea... sketchier'n frig but neat. The model with a single trigger sounds like a major improvement. Wonder why they didn't opt to make the cylinder a bit longer to allow for full size powder loads?
Maybe that was a low key safety feature lol so if they both went off it wouldn't end up in low earth orbit.
Would it be possible to fire the gun with a double powder charge? like only using the 2nd trigger so you essentially have a 6 shooter with more load?
Nice. I never heard of this gun before . I wonder how much more it cost in its day to a 6 shot.
such engineering at that period in time
This is 13/10 the most Genius caplock firearm have ever seen
Cool. I heard walch pistol and immediately thought of Tuco going into the gun store and put gun together. Rip Eli Wallach.
Would this design work better with smokeless power, as regards producing adequate velocity, and keeping the front round spark tube clear of powder residue?
I'd like to see someone build modern replicas of this, like they have done with many other Civil War-era weapons.
If possible, what would be the outcome of pulling both triggers at the same time?
This is the REAL double action revolver.
what would happen if if you filled powder up to the second flash hole and loaded one bullet?
It seems to me that the discharge of the first charge would apply a lot of pressure on the rear charge, hyper compressing the powder, and this would cause either overpressure when the second charge was discharged, or under pressure because the compression would inhibit combustion. I tend to over think things though, so tell me what I'm missing?
How reliable is that method of preventing both charges igniting? Surely there were some chainfires with double loaded cylinders like that.
Love this dude
It's neat in that it's so odd,but it looks like it would be a chain fire nightmare lol
Any records on how many did blow up because the rear bullet was fired before the forward one?
I spaced out thinking about all the times he's bumped his lav mic and missed the first minute lol.
in the middle of a battle when you cant hear your own gun going off this gun would be extremely dangerous.
It was ahead of its time