This great Austrian firm of Gasser was founded in 1862 by Leopold Gasser, who patented this revolver in 1870. He died in 1871 and was succeeded by his son, Johann, who continued to manufacture large numbers of revolvers almost until the end of the 19th Century.
Gasser revolvers were used by the Austro-Hungarian Army and were sold extensively as civilian arms in Austria-Hungary and throughout the Balkans.
In common with all original Gasser revolvers, they were opened-framed with no top strap. Their basic construction was fairly similar to that of the early Colt, except that there is a threaded hole below the barrel, which screws on the front end of the axis pin instead of on the wedge. It has a bottom-hinged loading gate and a sliding ejector rod on the right-hand side; the front end of the rod is cut into an arc of a similar diameter to the barrel and fits firmly against it. The lock is of double-action type and is fitted with a safety device in the form of the flat bar above the trigger-guard. Internal pins attached to the bar’s rear end held the hammer at half-cock and could only be released by the pressure on the trigger.
It is a massive weapon, chambered to fire the cartridge originally developed for the Werndl Carbine, and was really only suitable for use by mounted men. Even so, it would be hard to use without a detachable butt, which was not fitted.