RARE, 1914- 1924 American Harrison & Richardson Arms Company 1907 & 1909 Patent .32 Calibre Self Loading Pistol (Webley .32 Semi Auto). D 1506. RARE, 1914- 1924 American Harrison & Richardson Arms Company 1907 & 1909 Patent .32 Calibre Self Loading Pistol (Webley .32 Semi Auto). D 1506. .32 Semi Auto

In 1905, the famous British revolver-making firm of P. Webley & Scott introduced a series of blowback-operated pistols in .25 and .32 calibers that were designed by William Whiting. The .32 model was adopted by a number of police departments in Great Britain and throughout the empire. After negotiations with Webley in 1909, H&R obtained a license to produce the British firm’s pistols for sale in North America, and in 1912, H&R introduced the Harrington & Richardson .25 Caliber Self-Loading Pistol. While the .25-caliber pistol was almost identical to the Webley design, H&R’s engineers, with the assistance of Whiting, decided that some improvements would make the larger caliber model more attractive to American buyers. First, they substituted a simple internal striker mechanism for the Webley’s cumbersome, external hammer. This provided a smoother, snag-free exterior and also did away with the heavy hammer spring, which made retracting the slide to chamber a round much easier. Also added was a grip safety that blocked movement of the firing pin unless it was fully depressed. In 1914 the Harrington & Richardson .32 Calibre Self-Loading Pistol was released on the market. It possessed the slab-sided, squared-off silhouette; sharp grip-to-frame angle; and exposed barrel common to the Webley semi auto pistols. The pistol had a 3.5-inch barrel and measured 6.5 inches overall. It weighed 20 ounces unloaded. Grips were hard rubber. Manufacture of the .32 pistol continued until 1924, with approximately 40,000 units being produced. During World War II, the U.S. government obtained numbers of nonstandard handguns, and a small number of H&R pistols were among them. According to Dutch arms expert Bas Martens, in 1941, the Koninlijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (KNIL)–the military forces in the Dutch East Indies–obtained a quantity that were issued as the 7.65mm Pistol H&R. The Dutch national police used others in the postwar years. This is a rare, original H&R (Webley) .32 Calibre Automatic Pistol. It has the correct internal hammer & correct hard rubber chequered grips with embossed combined ‘HR’ roundel grips which are undamaged. The pistol is in very nice original and complete condition. It has a 'v' groove rear sight and a blade foresight. The 8 round magazine is released by pressing a button on the bottom of the frame between the grips, this operates as it should. On the left side of the receiver it has ‘H&R Self Loading Calber .32’ along with number ‘27910’ and ‘Safe’ above the frame mounted safety catch lever. The right side is stamped with Harrison & Richardson Arms Co address and Patent detail (all illustrated). Currently the pistol strips, cocks and dry fires. The price includes deactivation certificate and UK delivery**we can arrange for this firearm to be brought up to the latest UK/EU specification for UK customers (customers can purchase on our lay-away scheme. The weapon will then be brought up to EU specification and the relevant certificate obtained prior to the transfer of ownership and delivery). D 1506.