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The British Bulldog Revolver; The Forgotten Gun that Really Won the West |  | Author: George Layman
Publisher: Andrew Mowbray Inc., Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $33.75
as of 3/16/2010 18:57 PDT details
You Save: $1.24 (4%)
New (5) Used (3) from $32.99
Seller: fortressbks
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 356697
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 191
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 193146426X
EAN: 9781931464260
ASIN: 193146426X
Publication Date: November 30, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Generations of Hollywood Westerns have led us to believe that the Colt Single Action Army was the Gun That Won the West. But could the real honors belong to an inexpensive, yet powerful pocket revolver that is only now beginning to be appreciated by historians and collectors? In this long-awaited new collector s guide, noted author George Layman tells us the true story behind these diminutive, yet devastating, weapons. Perhaps ten times as popular as the Colt and Smith & Wesson combined, British Bull Dog revolvers were first introduced by Philip Webley & Co., but were soon duplicated by the American gun manufacturing giant Forehand & Wadsworth and countless Belgian copyists. Far from being uninteresting and identical, these pistols exist today in almost limitless variety. Learn how to identify rarities and valuable variations, including prices that should be expected for each type. Also, learn which models were carried most in the West by riverboat gamblers, soiled doves and gold miners. Even Billy the Kid might have packed one! So while the gun may have British in its name, the story is all American - and one that has remained untold until now.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent First Effort December 27, 2009
Fred Masterton (Pennsylvania)
I got this book for Christmas. An excellent first effort on compiling information on the British Bulldog variants. The pictures, old catalog pages, and descriptions are well worth the purchase price of the book. A couple of problems/inconsistencies:
1) The author makes no mention of the Spanish manufactured Bulldog pistols. Since at least half of the Bulldog pistols that I have run across were made in Spain, I assume that he has these lumped together with the Belgian pistols?
2) He apparently rearranged the chapters late in the editing process, but never went back and corrected the internal references. Many of the internal references ("see picture in Chapter 15" for example)refer to the wrong or even non-existent chapters.
I don't think that anyone will ever be able to write THE definitive book with all variations and manufacturers - there are simply too many, and most Bulldog pistols don't even have manufacturers marks or even proof marks on them. All the same, I would recommend this book to anyone who collects Bulldog pistols. Perhaps the author will publish new editions as more information becomes available?
 Long Needed September 30, 2007
Allen P. Bristow (Gleneden Beach, OR United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
At last, a difinitive book on the Bulldog! This has been needed for some time to augment the paucity of information available. Few realize the extensive use of this weapon in the American west, but in Bodie they were among the most popular revolver...see Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes by Roger McGrath. Perhaps "Whispering Smith's" Webley was actually a Bulldog...see "Whispering Smith; His Life & Misadventures"
A welcome and strongly recommended addition March 4, 2007
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Firearms history authority George Layman draws upon his considerable expertise in "The British Bulldog Revolver: The Forgotten Gun That Really Won The West", to showcase a very special pistol in great detail and documents its importance in the American west and elsewhere. This is a compendium of invaluable information that will be of immense interest to students of western history and firearms. This meticulously researched, superbly presented and profusely illustrated compendium will also prove to be of great value for collectors and dealers with Layman's professional commentary on British Bulldog Revolver variations and rarities (including prices for each type of pistol). "The British Bulldog Revolver" is a welcome and strongly recommended addition to personal, professional and academic library Firearms History reference collections.
 Not bad, but.., February 22, 2007
superc (Virginia, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is the ONLY book on the subject I have ever seen in English, so that's a plus. If you are looking for information on the English Webleys or the H&R variants, this book is a must. However, if you have one of the French or Belgium variants, you won't find much information. Sadly, those are way more common to encounter than the English or American variations, no matter what country you visit. This book is therefore a little thin.. Perhaps a thicker book entitled "Bulldog Revolvers and Their Clones" is in order (and needed)? I expected and hoped to find a review of known proof marks encountered on these little gems, hopefully broken down by country and year, but didn't. Matter of fact I found no mention of the St. Etienne variants at all. Owning several, this was disappointing. The author uses caliber as a method of dating the piece and ignores the proof marks and inspector mark as a dating method. Dozens of pages of old Belgium records showing who put what stamp on their submission to the proof houses (often under the grips or the concealed on the hammer and frame) were located a few years ago, it would have been nice to see mention of that and perhaps a review of those stamp marks. No mention. Little mention of the folding trigger variants either. No mention of the Chinese or (allegedly still being made) Khyber Pass variants. Good discussion of the case extraction mechanisms, but not even a sketch of how the double action mechanism in them works (and why some makes were more reliable then others). V spring or leaf, both kinds of mainsprings can be encountered, but we see no mention of who used which. The author's claim that these were much more likely to be encountered then a Colt or an S&W in the old West (US), (given the low price and huge volumes of production) is no doubt very much correct. The author would have increased enjoyment by mentioning sources of ammunition for these things, or at least the components of.. It took decades for me to find a source of .44 Webley brass, and some of the Bulldog calibers are even more exotic. Shooting them can be fun, but the author doesn't go there. A shame. Still we applaud this first work on a long neglected, very popular, period firearm which involving technology concepts it took Colt and S&W years to match.
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