Charles-François Galand (1832–1900) was a French gunsmith who worked in

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, and

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. He manufactured many revolvers for civilian and military use, including the Galand Revolver (also called the Galand-Sommerville or Galand-Perrin), the Tue Tue, and the tiny Le Novo. The Velo-dog, developed from the Tue Tue and the Novo, was designed by Charles-François' son René in 1904.

Galand Revolvers

Galand Model 1868

The original Galand revolver was a

double-action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. * Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action ...

, open frame (no strap across the top of the cylinder) revolver patented in 1868. Military versions were produced in 9 mm while civilian versions were made in 12 mm. The gun is easily recognizable due to its long extraction lever, which stretches under the gun to form the trigger guard. Pulling the lever forward separates the barrel and cylinder from the rest of the gun. At the same time the extractor plate is blocked which catches any cartridges in the cylinder, thereby extracting them. The first model was manufactured both in Liège and in

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by the

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arms firm Braendlin and Sommerville, and is therefore sometimes referred to as the Galand-Sommerville. Sommerville shared the patent for the case extracting system with Galand. The Galand-Perrin is an identical model which uses the Perrin cartridge (7 mm, 9 mm, and most famously 12 mm). The Galand's double-action mechanism allowed for rapid firing but the longer trigger pull made this less accurate than single-action fire. The Galand's self-extracting system made loading the revolver much faster than contemporary gate-loaded pistols such as the Colt Peacemaker. First distributed in October 1868, the Galand revolver sold briskly in France, at least in part due to fears over the looming

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870. Despite France's loss to the Germans the Galand performed successfully and the

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adopted the Galand model 1870 revolver in 1871. This revolver was manufactured under contract by Nagant and Goltiakoff in Russia in 1878. The

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n Army also adopted the Galand.

Tue Tue and Le Novo

In 1872 Galand improved the design with a closed frame, but failed to win a French military contract and began aiming most of his production at the civilian market. In 1893 Galand introduced the 8 mm Tue Tue (kill kill) hammerless pocket revolver, which continued in production until about 1935. Later versions were also sold in .32 S&W and .38 ACP, and some had an external hammer. The tiny Le Novo revolver, with a hinged trigger and no trigger guard, also featured a folding grip.

Velodog revolver

After Charles-François Galand's death in 1900 his son, René, continued the business until 1942. He created the Velo-dog, a truly peculiar conceit in personal defence weapons. The name is a contraction of ''vélocipède'' (bicycle) and dog. The weapon was originally marketed as a defence for bicyclists during the bicycle craze which started at the end of the 19th century. Like the Le Novo the Velodog originally used a 5.5 mm centerfire cartridge; it was also available in .22 caliber and 6.35 mm.

References

Literature