Gasser revolvers in Romania?

[montenegrin]

Hello everyone,
I wonder if Austrian Gasser revolvers (8mm and 11mm) are relatively common in Romanian collections, private or public?
One indication is that Rast & Gasser factory claimed in 1908 that they were exporting a lot of their revolvers to Romania.
Any comment on Gasser revolvers in Romania would be much appreciated. I would be especially interested to find out if they were used by the military (or police), or purchased by officers privately?
Kind regards, m.

[Kepi]

Romanian army didn’t use any type of “Gasser” revolvers. At the end of 19th Century Romanian troops were equipped with M.1874 and M.1876, Galand-Lebeau revolvers, 10.5 mm caliber (a special model made by Lebeau Frères in Liège, Belgium), and M.1896 “Saint-Etiènne” revolver, 8 mm caliber (which was in fact the French Modèle 1892 “Réglementaire”). In 1912, was adopted the M.1912 “Steyr” automatic pistol, 9 mm caliber.

Until about 1910 the police sergeants, who were watching on the streets, were equipped only with edged weapons (old army short swords or epee-bayonets). Later they were eventually equipped with old army revolvers, mainly M. 1874 and M.1876 types.

So, there were not “Gasser” revolvers in the Romanian army not even as personal officers weapons, because these revolvers were too big and not very comfortable to be carried. As far as I know, there are such weapons in some public and private collections (maybe our Forum mate, Cristian, could tell us more about this subject), especially at the National Military Museum, where all variants are displayed in the “Weapons Exhibition”.

Their big size make them impressive and very attractive for private collectors.

This post has been edited by Kepi on February 07, 2007 05:17 pm

[Cristian]

I know two 8mm Gasser revolver in private collections ( my brother have one )
Maybe the factory sold some revolvers as civilian models to private gun traders, as it hapened , for example with the 1892 model St Etienne revolver , wich was sold both the military and civilians.