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Information About

Mars Automatic Pistol




The Mars Automatic Pistol was a Semi-automatic Pistol developed in 1900 by the Englishman Hugh Gabbet-Fairfax. It was manufactured by Webley & Scott and distributed by the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate. The Mars Automatic Pistol is famous for being available in a variety of 8.5 mm, 9 mm and .45 calibres. These were all bottle shaped Cartridge s with a heavy powder loading, making the .45 version the most powerful handgun in the world for a time. It used a unique long recoil rotating bolt action which ejected spent cartidges straight to the rear. The Mars Automatic Pistol was rejected by the British War Office as a possible replacement for the Webley & Scott Revolver , then in service with the British Army , because of the unacceptable large recoil, muzzle-flash, and mechanical complexity. It has since become a collectors item because of its rarity and as an example of the earliest developments in semi-automatic pistols.


SPECIFICATION

  • Partial specification


  • muzzle velocity: 1750 ft/s (533 m/s)

  • Calibres

  • ---8.5 mm Mars

  • ---9 mm Mars

  • ---.45 Mars Short Case

  • ---.45 Mars Long Case



NOTES

#Only around 80 pistols were made between 1897 and 1905. (Standard Catalog of Firearms)
#An example of the Mars can be seen at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds
#A near-perfect Gabbet-Fairfax Mars sold at auction in 2002 for $35,250.
#On the 16th December 1996, the Mars revolver was cited as an example of a heritage arms during a debate in the House Of Lords on Gun Control following Dunblane .