Webley-Mars
Webley & Scott Ltd. · Pistol · Prototype · 1900
Also known as: Mars Automatic Pistol, Gabbett-Fairfax Mars, British Mars Pistol
Overview
The Webley-Mars is the Webley & Scott-built version of Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax's Mars automatic pistol, the most powerful handgun in the world at the turn of the 20th century. Webley & Scott of Birmingham produced the early Mars pistols before manufacture passed to the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate. It used an unusual long-recoil action with a four-lug rotating bolt that stayed locked through the entire rearward stroke; the trigger had to be released before the next bottlenecked Mars cartridge would chamber. In .45 Mars Long it drove a 220-grain bullet at roughly 1,250 ft/s, far exceeding contemporaries, but its brutal recoil, rearward case ejection and hand-fitted complexity made it a commercial failure.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 1360 g (48.0 oz) |
| Overall Length | 311 mm (12.24") |
| Barrel Length | 241 mm (9.49") |
| Action Type | Long Recoil |
| Firing Mechanism | Single Action |
| Trigger Type | Single Stage |
| Trigger Pull | 45 N (10.1 lbf) |
| Magazine Capacity | 10 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Detachable Box |
| Muzzle Velocity | 381 m/s (1250 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 1040 J (767 ft·lbf) |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Slide Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Wood |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .45 Mars Long · primary — also known as .45 Mars, .45 Mars Long Case
- 8.5mm Mars — also known as .335 Mars
- .360 Mars — also known as 9mm Mars
Features
- Firing modes: Semi Automatic
- Feed systems: Cartridge Elevator Feed
- Safety mechanisms: Bolt Hold Catch
- Features: Rotating Bolt Four Lugs, Manual Bolt Release, Hand Fitted Non Interchangeable Parts, High Bore Axis, Rearward Case Ejection
Base model
Service history
Operators
- British War Office / Royal Navy (trials)
- French Army (trials)
Production
Estimated total produced: 80 · Production years: 1898-1907
Roughly 56-80 made in all calibers, all handmade with non-interchangeable parts; the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate went bankrupt after British and French trials rejected it.
Origin
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Designer: Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax
Discontinued: 1907
Notes
'Webley-Mars' is the collector designation for the Webley & Scott-manufactured Mars pistols; mechanically identical to the canonical Gabbett-Fairfax Mars (recorded separately). Sources disagree on the feed: secondary references describe a detachable box magazine while Forgotten Weapons describes a cartridge-elevator/lifter feed; recorded here as cartridge-elevator with detachable-box magazine_type as the closest schema match. Energy figures calculated from bullet mass and velocity. Trigger pull ~10 lb (~45 N).
Background
A Royal Navy tester reputedly said that no one who fired the Mars once ever wished to shoot it again; spent cases were flung back toward the shooter's face and the recoil was brutal. It remained the most powerful production handgun in the world until the .44 AutoMag arrived in the 1970s, and survives as the textbook example of an early automatic pistol that was ballistically magnificent yet mechanically hopeless.