The Illusive Schneider and Glassick

Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:06 PM

While going through some old reference materials of mine, I ran across the attached article from an old Arms Gazette magazine that was a reprint of the brochure included with the Schneider and Glassick Commemorative revolvers made by High Standard.

Enjoy.

Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:07 PM

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Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:09 PM

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Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:10 PM

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Skadoosh · August 13, 2011, 01:11 PM

Illusive? Did you mean elusive?

Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:14 PM

Nope. I meant illusive.

Skadoosh · August 13, 2011, 01:23 PM

Very interesting article! Thanks for posting it.

MLeake · August 13, 2011, 01:24 PM

So you mean it was never made? Or was it unreal in some other way?

Fingers McGee · August 13, 2011, 01:33 PM

As a Confederate firearm, it was never made.

Hawg · August 13, 2011, 05:13 PM

You know who will never believe it. I don't care if Mr's. Schneider and Glassic themselves came back from the dead and told him so.

DG45 · August 13, 2011, 05:17 PM

Very interesting article Fingers. Thanks for posting.

While it may be true that no Glassick &Schneider guns were purchased by the Confederacy, it seems likely that the few revolvers they did make were probably purchased and used by individual soldiers in the Confederate Army.

Anyway, there were clearly very few Griswold & Schneider marked Colt revolver knock-offs produced. A month or so ago I tried to correlate the number of Griswold & Gunnison revolvers that were produced during the war with the number that survive today, and came up with 1 gun still existing for about every 14 guns that they produced. Assuming that about the same 14 to 1 relationship should hold for Glassick & Schneider guns too, I figured that about 42 Colt knock-offs were produced by G&S based on the fact that 3 are known to survive today; however, the the higest serial number that has shown up on a G&S revolver so far is 27, I think. So it seems clear that at least 27 were made but maybe as many as 42 or so.

There was another article concerning Colt-type revolvers in the Memphis Daily Appeal newspaper that appeared in that paper about a month or so before the Dec. 1861 article that first mentioned the Glassick & Schneider revolver. The earlier article mentioned that equipment for making Colt type revolvers was then at the Navy Yard (in Memphis). I don't know if that machinery was used to make the Glassick & Schneider revolvers or not, but I imagine it was.

The fact that Glassick & Schneider ceased manufacturing their brass-framed Colt knock-off revolvers in Memphis just a few months before Griswold & Gunnison began manufacturing what was an ialmost dentical revolver in Georgia a few months later, seems to me to have been more than just a coincdence, and may have involved using the same machinery to produce what was essentially the same gun - except for a half round barrel being used on the G&G gun and an octagonal barrel being used on the earlier G&G's.

It would be interesting to know if the G&G brass framed guns were made on the same equipment as the earlier brass framed G&S guns.

Hawg · August 13, 2011, 06:11 PM

Quote:

It would be interesting to know if the G&G brass framed guns were made on the same equipment as the earlier brass framed G&S guns.

It may be so but Gunnison was already a gun maker in NOLA. I would assume if possible he shipped his own machinery or bought new machinery in Atlanta instead of trying to move S&G's machinery overland.

Hardy · August 13, 2011, 11:43 PM

Hawg--I bought 2 of these from Taylor & Co and sold one the next day. I'm thinking about buying a display case and put the other one in just for keepsakes. No-it ain't a RELee commerative, but the price and the box and the limitation available is a good gamble for a gun in the foreseeable future for a collector like yourself and others at a nominal price. I hope you acted on it. They are nice

WBH

Hawg · August 14, 2011, 12:57 AM

No I didn't Hardy. My funds are limited these days. Hoping for better times ahead tho.

DG45 · August 15, 2011, 02:23 AM

Wow! The comment in the article wondering about the mysterious gap between the cylinder and the barrel whistled right by my head without me even making any note of it until I re-read the article tonight and looked at the photos again. Now I see why Glassick &Schneider wasn't around too long. That's a serious gas leak in a gun that probably had to be light-loaded to begin with because of the brass frame. I think there's nothing mysterious about the gap, it was just a poorly made gun.

Jim March · August 15, 2011, 03:38 AM

The article notes how "special projects" can get out of hand...gee, I know *that* feeling!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZAGpJr5RsU

[youtube]nZAGpJr5RsU[/youtube]

madcratebuilder · August 15, 2011, 06:04 AM

Thanks fingers.

Hawg · August 15, 2011, 06:36 AM

Quote:

That's a serious gas leak in a gun that probably had to be light-loaded to begin with because of the brass frame.

I doubt they had to be light loaded. The brass frames back then were what was known as red brass or gunmetal. It was bronze with a heavy copper content. That's probably why they never made any .44's in brass. The .36's would probably hold up under heavy loads but the .44's wouldn't.

Fingers McGee · August 15, 2011, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCB

Thanks fingers.

You're welcome MCB. I guess a reprint of the brochure is better than nothing to add to the collection. Its a good looking set.

August 13, 2011, 01:06 PM	#1
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	The Illusive Schneider and Glassick While going through some old reference materials of mine, I ran across the attached article from an old Arms Gazette magazine that was a reprint of the brochure included with the Schneider and Glassick Commemorative revolvers made by High Standard. Enjoy. __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 01:07 PM	#2
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	Page 2 Page 2 __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 01:09 PM	#3
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	Page 3 Page 3 __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 01:10 PM	#4
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	Page 4 Page 4. __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 01:11 PM	#5
Skadoosh Senior Member Join Date: December 13, 2010 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,016	Illusive? Did you mean elusive? __________________ NRA Life Member USN Retired

August 13, 2011, 01:14 PM	#6
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	Nope. I meant illusive. __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 01:23 PM	#7
Skadoosh Senior Member Join Date: December 13, 2010 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,016	Very interesting article! Thanks for posting it. __________________ NRA Life Member USN Retired

August 13, 2011, 01:24 PM	#8
MLeake Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2007 Location: Outside KC, MO Posts: 10,128	So you mean it was never made? Or was it unreal in some other way?

August 13, 2011, 01:33 PM	#9
Fingers McGee Senior Member Join Date: March 19, 2008 Location: High & Dry in Missouri Ozarks Posts: 2,113	As a Confederate firearm, it was never made. __________________ Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee - AKA Man of Many Colts - Alter ego of Diabolical Ken; SASS Regulator 28564-L-TG; Rangemaster and stage writer extraordinaire; Frontiersman, Pistoleer, NRA Endowment Life, NMLRA, SAF, CCRKBA, STORM 327, SV115; Charter member, Central Ozarks Western Shooters Cynic: A blackguard whose faulty vision see things as they are, not as they should be. Ambrose Bierce

August 13, 2011, 05:13 PM	#10
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,190	You know who will never believe it. I don't care if Mr's. Schneider and Glassic themselves came back from the dead and told him so.

August 13, 2011, 05:17 PM	#11
DG45 Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2009 Posts: 904	Very interesting article Fingers. Thanks for posting. While it may be true that no Glassick &Schneider guns were purchased by the Confederacy, it seems likely that the few revolvers they did make were probably purchased and used by individual soldiers in the Confederate Army. Anyway, there were clearly very few Griswold & Schneider marked Colt revolver knock-offs produced. A month or so ago I tried to correlate the number of Griswold & Gunnison revolvers that were produced during the war with the number that survive today, and came up with 1 gun still existing for about every 14 guns that they produced. Assuming that about the same 14 to 1 relationship should hold for Glassick & Schneider guns too, I figured that about 42 Colt knock-offs were produced by G&S based on the fact that 3 are known to survive today; however, the the higest serial number that has shown up on a G&S revolver so far is 27, I think. So it seems clear that at least 27 were made but maybe as many as 42 or so. There was another article concerning Colt-type revolvers in the Memphis Daily Appeal newspaper that appeared in that paper about a month or so before the Dec. 1861 article that first mentioned the Glassick & Schneider revolver. The earlier article mentioned that equipment for making Colt type revolvers was then at the Navy Yard (in Memphis). I don't know if that machinery was used to make the Glassick & Schneider revolvers or not, but I imagine it was. The fact that Glassick & Schneider ceased manufacturing their brass-framed Colt knock-off revolvers in Memphis just a few months before Griswold & Gunnison began manufacturing what was an ialmost dentical revolver in Georgia a few months later, seems to me to have been more than just a coincdence, and may have involved using the same machinery to produce what was essentially the same gun - except for a half round barrel being used on the G&G gun and an octagonal barrel being used on the earlier G&G's. It would be interesting to know if the G&G brass framed guns were made on the same equipment as the earlier brass framed G&S guns.

August 13, 2011, 11:43 PM	#13
Hardy Senior Member Join Date: August 6, 2009 Location: South Carolina Posts: 709	Hawg--I bought 2 of these from Taylor & Co and sold one the next day. I'm thinking about buying a display case and put the other one in just for keepsakes. No-it ain't a RELee commerative, but the price and the box and the limitation available is a good gamble for a gun in the foreseeable future for a collector like yourself and others at a nominal price. I hope you acted on it. They are nice WBH

August 14, 2011, 12:57 AM	#14
Hawg Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2007 Location: Mississippi Posts: 16,190	No I didn't Hardy. My funds are limited these days. Hoping for better times ahead tho.

August 15, 2011, 02:23 AM	#15
DG45 Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2009 Posts: 904	Wow! The comment in the article wondering about the mysterious gap between the cylinder and the barrel whistled right by my head without me even making any note of it until I re-read the article tonight and looked at the photos again. Now I see why Glassick &Schneider wasn't around too long. That's a serious gas leak in a gun that probably had to be light-loaded to begin with because of the brass frame. I think there's nothing mysterious about the gap, it was just a poorly made gun.

August 15, 2011, 03:38 AM	#16
Jim March Senior Member Join Date: February 14, 1999 Location: Pittsburg, CA, USA Posts: 7,417	The article notes how "special projects" can get out of hand...gee, I know that feeling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZAGpJr5RsU [youtube]nZAGpJr5RsU[/youtube] __________________ Jim March

August 15, 2011, 06:04 AM	#17
madcratebuilder Senior Member Join Date: November 2, 2007 Location: Northern Orygun Posts: 4,923	Thanks fingers.