F.lli Mazzocchi
In the first years of the 19° century Gaetano Mazzocchi had the privilege to be entrusted by the Papal General Treasurer to be the keeper of the Papal Armoury and to have the exclusivity of the arms manufacturing for the military service.
During the Napoleon Bonaparte invasion, this charge was suspended and was renewed after the restoration of the Papal power to Gaetano's sons (Giovanni, Giuseppe, Pietro and Luigi born after his marriage with Rosa, daughter of Paolo Diamanti, a very skilled armour worker and metals chiseller). So to Mazzocchi sons was confirmed the double entrustment got by their father.
Initially, up to 1850', their workshop was located in Castel Sant'Angelo. Then they leaved the premises to the French Military Expedition.
F.lli Mazzocchi made the Papal industrial military organization famous. Under their direction the Papal Armoury had 62 regular craftsmen and 23 temporary workers.
Their workshops manufactured the first rifled artilleries for the Papal Army. From the 1860s to Sept. 20, 1870 (date of the Papal State falling) F.lli Mazzocchi had been able to manufacture the French rifles pattern 1867 "à tabatière" and the Remington rifles.
Bibliography: Archivio di Stato di Roma - Ministero delle Armi, Affari Speciali - various files.
Montù: "Storia dell'Artiglieria Italiana" %th vol.
Malatesta: "Armi e Armaioli".
On 1871 F.lli Mazzocchi patented "improvements to the rifle Remington system and adjustments of this system to the hunting rifles with two barrels".
Paolo (Italia)
At the beginning of 1867's, the permanent Commission for the Shooting of portable firearms of the Papal Artillery, examined a revolver Chamelot system calibre 9 mm. submitted by Laurent De Ville, he also was a firearms manufacturer and owner of various patents.
The above said Commission was looking for a revolver with specific requirements to be utilized by the Papal Police. The requirements were:
- Solidity and simplicity of the system and mechanism
- Revolver to be used with only one hand
- Lightness of the revolver
- Extraction easiness from the pocket
Upon these criteria the Commission asked for the construction of a revolver Chamelot with the following changes:
- From double to single action
- Removal of the trigger guard
- Removal of the external stick and his screwing down in the grip
- Mechanism reduced to 6 components
- Modifications of the grip
- Barrel’s length reduced to 95 mm
On June 4, 1867 the Commission successfully proved the Chamelot pattern modified and on Feb. 21, 1868 the Papal Artillery charged the Mazzocchi Bros, Papal firearms manufacturers, to construct 2500 pieces of these new revolvers with a weekly delivery of 40 revolvers. Papal Lires 56 was the cost of a single revolver.
The Chamelot pattern so modified was named Roman pattern or 1868 pattern and the Papal Police was endowed with it.
I send you further photos and news:
- On the left hand of the revolver it has been indicated, as per contract, the trade mark of the manufacturer (inside an oval : F.lli Mazzocchi - Roma)
- On the cylinder there is a little punch of a worker encharged to the manufacturing of the revolvers. In this case AG (Amidoni Giovanni)
- In the internal of the grip frame there is a capital letter identifying another worker. In this case S (Spadini?)
- The number of the matriculation, as per contract, is on the right side of the revolver, on the cylinder, on the stick, on the internal right side of the grip. The cheeks are in walnut wood.
Paolo
Here the first and the last pages of the enchargement given to F.lli Mazzocchi for the construction of n. 2.500 revolvers Chamelot pattern modified.
Paolo
As well as the technical data of this weapon
