Mars Automatic Pistol
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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 cartridges 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 cartridges 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.
[edit] Specification
- Partial specification
- muzzle velocity: 8.5mm cartridge, 1750 ft/s (533 m/s)
- Calibres
- 8.5 mm Mars
- 9 mm Mars
- .45 Mars Short Case
- .45 Mars Long Case
[edit] 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 December 16, 1996, the Mars was cited as an example of a heritage arm during a debate in the House of Lords on gun control following Dunblane.
