Some how this firearm came into existence and then was discontinued all without me noticing:
It’s a semi-automatic revolver called the Mateba Autorevolver. It uses the explosion from each shot to automatically rotate the cylinder and cock the gun. I don’t know why I think that’s awesome, but I just do. I like semi-automatic pistols and I like revolvers, so why not combine the two? Plus the cylinder is upside down (the barrel is aligned with the six o’clock chamber) which is just neat.
Interestingly, there were automatic revolvers back at the turn of last century, but they went out of popularity when semi-automatic pistols became cheap and reliable. I guess there’s no reason to return to automatic revolvers as I’m guessing the inner-workings are far more complex than either a revolver or a pistol (and thus there is more to go wrong), but for some strange reason I think it’s really cool. And I want it.
I wouldn’t mind taking one out to the range to see how it feels, but I don’t think I’d spend $1,500 for one.
Interesting, but I think I’ll stick with my traditional old Smith & Wesson Model 627 .357 magnum.
I know very little about firearms and even I think this is way cool. I don’t understand too much of it, but that doesn’t make is any less awesome.
Frank, I’m not easily distracted from pre-primary election return coverage. Except by shiney images of guns.
Hope you have an election night “special” post. This is a big one.
That is one of the best looking guns of all time. Is there a rifle version.
YOU HAVE TO GET IT FRANK! YOU HAVE TO, YOU HAVE TO, YOU HAVE TO! IT’S SO UTTERLY AWESOME AND AMAZING! IT’S A REALLY GREAT GUN, AND YOU NEED TO GET IT!
Deckard called. He needs his gun back to retire a few more Nexus Sixes.
<3
love
There was a Webley revolver that did that, and in fact they used one in THE MALTESE FALCON, the gun that Archer had on him when he was shot.
I bet it would become all kinds of popular if, say, some nut used it to dash our HOPE for CHANGE…
Sean Connery’s character Zed used a Webley autorevolver in Zardoz, which he used to kill the man in the giant flying stone head.
http://www.hellbentcomics.com/extra/zardoz.jpg
8D
I’m guessing the inner-workings are far more complex than either a revolver or a pistol (and thus there is more to go wrong)
http://world.guns.ru/handguns/mateba-pat.jpg
Is Frank doing an Obama doing a Deval Patrick now? 🙂
Do they have one disguised as a cell phone?
I have fired one, and was unimpressed. There is a lot of what some gunbloggers like to call “monkey motion”–pressure other than straight back into the hand, which you can learn to compensate. If you’ve ever shot a well-used Browning 9mm, with its seems-like-forever series of click-clicks as the action cycles, it reminded me of that. Lovely piece, interesting project, but nowhere near as manageable as a mid-sized S&W or Ruger .357.
For those of us whose range experience consists of a lot of mirror time memorizing Dashiell Hammett (mind you, I’m not criticizing), it’s a must-have. The stuff that dreams are made of, you might say.
And .357 is a much more powerful round than the Fosbery had.
She’s B A C K.
In a moment of weak will and a strong checkbook last April, I bought a Mateba through Gunbroker. (My first gun!) Mine’s a .357. Personally, I think it’s a great piece, but it’s got its quirks.
If the load is too light, the slide can jam itself in a position that is almost-but-not-quite all the way back. You’ll probably have to carefully push the barrel and slide back by pushing the gun into a convenient and sturdy flat surface. Or, get a lighter spring if you’re going to shoot powder-puff loads.
I’ve not pulled open the action, but I usually remove the slide from the frame, and the cylinder from the slide when cleaning it. This involves removing a one-way retaining pin that inevitably goes back in the wrong way the first time, and is held in place with a teensy-weensy Allen-head set screw located inside the trigger guard.
Dunno how complicated the lockwork and etc. in the gun is compared to that found in a normal revolver, but I haven’t been able to tell that it’s terribly more complicated than either (normal) auto-loading pistol I’ve purchased since. The hammer has a lever that hooks into a lever that comes out the back of the slide. When the hammer is cocked (either manually or by recoil operation of the slide), the levers actuate the lockwork of the revolver to rotate the cylinder.
I do really like mine, though. Seems to be the gun I’m most accurate with, and the recoil is comparable with a plastic .40S&W I own.
I will have one . Trust me, I will.
An interesting engineering excercise, but nothing more. I’ll still take a good 1911 with DA or a 3″ barrel .357.
What do you guys think of Sig arms?
Those Mateba folks made another crazy revolver in the ’80s with the cylinder ahead of the trigger guard. Never seen one in person but I think it’s pretty cool.
http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg185-e.htm
I can’t say that the automatic-revolver concept is practical, but good for them for trying something new. There are so few new inventions in the gun world these days. Every semi-auto is pretty much a modification of the old John Browning design. As for revolvers, well, that was perfected even earlier.
Now, if someone would just come up with a modern version of the LeMat!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeMat_Revolver
The only really “awesome” revolver is a gatling gun!
I stand corrected on my “no new ideas” comment. This is freakin’ sweet!
http://208.65.153.253/watch?v=D99NHb6B03s
What do you guys think of Sig arms?
#21 – Posted by: RedWhiteAndTrue on March 5, 2008 08:48 AM
Love’em. I only have one, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Thank you Clay S. #23 The Vulcan gatling gun is still happily spraying 6,000 rpm at misguided foreigners everywhere; through a rapidly spinning cylinder. Long may it rain/reign.
Gattling gun? Isn’t it amazing that one of the first automatic weapons (maybe the first, I don’t know) is still the coolest! That Mateba does look interesting, though.
Thanks Canthros, great review.
I would rather have more than 6 bullets – that’s why I carry a Semi in the first place.
All other considerations aside, it looks like a perfect Browncoat weapon.
“but for some strange reason I think it’s really cool”
Frank you think its really cool for the same reason that farts are considered by men to be hilarious.
A) It is really cool
B) Farts ARE hilarious… Just ask Dennis Miller!
As a side note, auto revolvers were intensely popular during the early part of world war I, even after the arrival of cheap auto pistols, with pilots. This was way back in the early part of the war, when planes were still too fragile to mount machine guns. Since the auto-pistols didn’t through hot cartridges all over cockpit, or worse, the flammable paper thin wings, they were used very heavily by pilots to take pot shots at each other while flying recon.
Of course, as soon as wings became a bit more durable, payload increased, and light machine guns arrived on scene (all about the same time) the days of the auto-pistol were over.
Cool! I’d love to have a revolving rifle to go along with the S&W 629 in .44 magnum!
How is this thing different from any modern SA/DA or DAO revolver out there today, other than more parts that could go wonky?
At a gun show the other day and saw a variation of this up close. This example was a 12 shot, automatic revolver chambered in the bone-jarring 45-70 govt! Seller said it was one of 50 ever made. Price $5000