British Flare Pistol

[Webley Lover]

Thanks very much. This is as I expected.

Here is one last question. Here in the U.S., I see 25 mm marine flares for sale, as well as 26.5 mm flares. The latter (ex-Czech army, I believe) look too long and perhaps too big in diameter to fit in a 1" (25.4 mm) bore flare pistol with a 4" barrel (but I recall reading someplace that the bore actually is more like 1-1/16", or just under 27 mm).

Anyway, does anyone reading this happen to know what currently-available marine flares are like to fit in this flare pistol? It is Birmingham proofed on the barrel for 1-1/2 tons per square inch. I assume all responsibility for blowing it up if I act on any opinion I read here!

[browningautorifle]

The 25mm flares aren't that great pressure and should be OK. I think the guns are 12 ga. Can you micrometer the inside rear to find out what's what? Or do you have a 12 ga shell to try for diameter. It won't fit in for length I don't think. If it does don't fire it...

[Webley Lover]

Thanks very much for the input.

12 gauge is 18.53 mm, so one would need an adapter to fire a 12 gauge flare out of a 1" (25.4 mm) flare pistol. I have seen such adapters for sale.

Doing some additional reading, I believe a U.S. made (Orion) 25 mm flare should fit, and that the real issue may be the thickness of the rim of the base rather than the exact diameter (German and Czech flares having thinner base thickness, resulting in the firing pin not reaching the primer). But I still have no practical knowledge to bring to bear here and no actual experience at all. And those Orion 25 mm flares are not cheap!

[A square 10]

kinda wish id stuck with collecting these when i see your photos but i divested mine a number of years ago , congrats on what look like nice specimins