The Mars Automatic Pistol, also sometimes known as the Webley-Mars, was a

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol is a type of repeating single-chamber handgun ( pistol) that automatically cycles its action to insert the subsequent cartridge into the chamber (self-loading), but requires manual actuation of the trigger to actuall ...

developed in 1900 by the Englishman

Hugh Gabbet-Fairfax Hugh may refer to: * Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-d ...

and distributed by the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate Ltd. of Birmingham. It was manufactured first by Webley & Scott and later by small gunmakers in Birmingham and London. Manufacture ceased in 1907. The Mars Automatic Pistol is noted for being available in a variety of calibers: 8.5 mm, 9 mm and .45. These were all bottlenecked cartridges with a large charge of powder, 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, and the feed mechanism is unusual in that it pulls cartridges backwards out of the magazine and then lifts them up into the breech face. The Mars Automatic Pistol was rejected by the British War Office as a possible replacement for the Webley and Webley & Scott revolvers, then in service with the British Army, because of the unacceptably powerful recoil, considerable muzzle flash, and mechanical complexity. The captain in charge of tests of the Mars at the Naval Gunnery School in 1902 observed, "No one who fired once with the pistol wished to shoot it again". Shooting the Mars pistol was described as "singularly unpleasant and alarming".Geoffrey Boothroyd, ''The Handgun'', Crown Publishers, 1970, pp. 410–412. It has since become a collectors' item because of its rarity and as an example of the earliest developments in semi-automatic pistols.

In popular culture

The Mars is obtainable in the 2015 video game, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate despite the game being set in 1868, 32 years before the firearm was produced. However, the gun is shown once again in a historically-accurate manner in the game's World War I section, where it is wielded by the protagonist Jacob Frye's granddaughter, Lydia Frye. The Mars Automatic Pistol can also be used by the Scout class in the 2016 video game,

Battlefield 1 ''Battlefield 1'' is a first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the tenth installment in the ''Battlefield'' series and the first main entry in the series since '' Battlefield 4'' in 2013. It was rele ...

. The Mars is described in Brian Catling's 2012 novel, '' The Vorrh''.

Notes

# filed on Oct 15, 1900 #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 Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

following Dunblane.

References

External links

* {{youTube, RBKqvLpxpU4, Mars Automatic Pistol at Forgotten Weapons 19th-century semi-automatic pistols Semi-automatic pistols of the United Kingdom Trial and research firearms of the United Kingdom Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom