Please tell me some info on this pistol

D

Daren Thompson

New member
A friend of mine showed me an interesting pistol that he had bought about 30 years ago. I found in my Janes gun recognition guide that it is a Rast & Gasser revolver. The book says that ammo is still available, is it? How much would a gun like this be worth? His gun is it pretty good shape. Is there any history or other information anyone can provide about this kind of gun?

The serial number is marked on the barrel, frame, and cylinder. It is 59344

The left side of the frame says PATENT/ RAST & GASSER/ WIEN.

It is chambered in 8mm Gasser

8 Chambers

Thanks

Daren

[This message has been edited by Daren Thompson (edited January 16, 2000).]
 
Some more information courtesy of The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Handguns by A.B.Zhuk.
"...this well-balanced and easily handled weapon, specifically designed for smokeless cartridges, equipped the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. The double-action lock has a rebounding hammer, whilst the striker is a separate component in the breach. The spring-loaded ejector, mounted on a fixed yoke on the right side of the frame, operates in conjunction with an Abadie gate...An interesting feature is the lack of screws, enabling the gun to be stripped and reassembled without tools."

"Many of the revolvers made in Europe prior to 1914 featured the so-called Abadie Gate, which was perfected in Belguim and was particularly common on guns made by Nagant. The hammer disengaged when the gate was opened, allowing the cylinder to be turned by the trigger. Alternately pressing the trigger and the extractor-head caused the cylinder to revolve and fired cases to be ejected, greatly facilitating reloading."
 
The Rast & Gasser Model 1898 is described in the 1999 Standard Catalog of Firearms as... "A 8mm caliber double action revolver with 4.75" barrel, 8-shot cylinder, solid frame revolver with loading gate and an integral ejector rod."

Excellent - $275
Very Good - $225
Good - $175
Fair - $125
Poor - $100

Hope this helps!

Steve Mace

------------------
After today, its all historical

[This message has been edited by Steven Mace (edited January 17, 2000).]
 
THANKS ALL!!

That is exactly what I was looking for. The only question that I have left is were in the heck could you buy ammo for this critter? My friend has never even shot it because of the lack of ammo. It is interesting how the gun comes completely apart with no tools. Real cool. I wish it was worth more, but I do not believe my friend would sell it anyway.

Thanks again

Later

Daren
 
According to a recent Cartridges of the World, ammo for the R-G is very hard to obtain in the U.S., but that Fiocchi still makes it for the European market. Know anybody in Italy?
 
It is made by Fiocchi, and I have found it at gun shows in this area. Not cheap, but if you have a Rast-Gasser.... That takedown mechanism where the whole sideplate swings out turned up on a lot of military revolvers at the time, notably the Japanese 9mm Type 26.

Jim
 
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