Bedford (boxed)

Made when Augustus Bedford operated alone, around 1875. With thanks to Bruce Jr for this pic.

Note that the box instructions are in English and German.

Eureka

With thanks to Bruce Jr for this pic.

Eureka (boxed)

With thanks to Bruce for this pic.

Eureka postcard

With thanks to Bruce Jr for this scan.

Champion

With thanks to John A for this pic of two Champions, one black Japanned and one nickel with rosewood grips.

With thanks to Bruce for these pics. With a 'Eureka' pistol. The advertisement for the pistols was on the bottom of an 1870s/1880s paper ammunition box.

With thanks to Sean Campbell, imaging manager of the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West in Cody, Wyoming, for permission to post these pics of a gun held in the Cody Firearms Museum. The blurb accompanying this gun follows.

Accession Number: 1993.8.67 Date : c. 1940 Dimensions: L: 14.5 in, H: 4.75 in Credit Line: Gift of Thomas K. Hutchinson Inscription: top of barrel: PAT "AP" APR1171. ENG JULY 3 75. MAY 25,75 Synopsis: firearm- pistol- airgun- Iver Johnson (Martin Bye) USA- wood- brass- steel- top of barrel: PAT "AP" APR1171. ENG JULY 3 75. MAY 25,75- Champion- .22

Cased Eureka

With thanks to Sean Campbell, imaging manager of the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West in Cody, Wyoming, for permission to post these pics of a gun held in the Cody Firearms Museum. The blurb accompanying this gun follows.

Accession Number: 1993.8.61 Date : 1875-1885 Dimensions: L: 14 in, Barrel length: 8.5 in, H: 4.25 in Credit Line: Gift of Thomas K. Hutchinson Remarks: "Bedford Eureka, US Patent. Jan, 18, 76 Pat'd in England #486. Wooden case with key; removable shoulder stock; Pope patent. Synopsis: firearm- pistol- airgun- Bedford (Quackenbush)- nickel-plated- steel- Eureka- .22- "Bedford Eureka, US Patent. Jan, 18, 76 Pat'd in England #486. Wooden case with key; removable shoulder stock; Pope patent.

Eureka (final version)

With thanks to Sean Campbell, imaging manager of the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West in Cody, Wyoming, for permission to post these pics of a gun held in the Cody Firearms Museum. The blurb accompanying this gun follows.

Accession Number: 1993.8.68 Date : 1880 Dimensions: L: 14 in, Barrel length: 8.5 in, H: 4.25 in Credit Line: Gift of Thomas K. Hutchinson Remarks: Separate acting plunger below barrel; Pope patent. Inscription: right side of barrel: PAT JAN 18, JULY 18 "78 PAT. IN ENG. Synopsis: firearm- pistol- airgun- Bedford and Walker, Quackenbush, USA- steel- right side of barrel: PAT JAN 18, JULY 18 "78 PAT. IN ENG.- .22- Separate acting plunger below barrel; Pope patent.

Bedford (& Walker) pistols (David Swan collection)

With thanks to Rod Meek of Anderson & Garland Auctioneers (www.andersonandgarland.com) for permission to post these pics of pistols auctioned in 2015.

Pics preceded by auction blurb:

"A Bedford 'Eureka'' .215cal. air pistol, no. 94 circa 1876, fitted plunger cocking action, with brass barrel attached to steel body and grip, 14in. overall length. Hammer price: £140 A Bedford & Walker .215cal. air pistol, circa 1880, with plunger cocking mechanism, black painted cast iron grip, 13 3/4in. overall length. Hammer price: £120"

A Bedford & Walker .215cal. air pistol, circa 1880, with plunger cock-in mechanism, nickel plated cast iron body, 13 3/4in. overall length. Hammer price: £120

A Bedford & Walker pattern .215 cal. air pistol, in full chromed metal with pump pressure action and hinged barrel, 15in. overall length. Hammer price £160

Bedford's Eureka

Looks like this pistol has been sleeved for some reason - maybe a split cylinder?

Beford Eureka

Pics copyright Holts Auctioneers

Bedford & Walker air pistol (wood grip)

These pics copyright Holts Auctioneers.

Bedford & Walker Eureka (with stock and slugs) 

Bedford Eureka 

With thanks to David.

Bedford air pistol (1871 patent, Beeman Collection) 

Pics copyright Rock Island Auctions.

Bedford & Walker Eureka (French copy) 

John Griffiths, author of the Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols, wrote on the airgunbbs.com:

Airguns may not always be what they seem, and on occasion they may be an exceptionally rare gun masquerading as something that is not quite so rare. Then there are those airguns that have a feature that makes them specially rare, where the feature often goes unnoticed. I have come across a few pistols that fall into these categories during my collecting years, and I thought I would share these on the forum, in the hope that this might encourage others to take a closer look at their collections so that more examples might be brought to the surface.

The Bedford & Walker Eureka pistol (or to be more precise, its later version) is a good example. Here are my two pistols that look identical, but only the upper one is a genuine American-made Eureka, dating to the late 1800’s.

I owned both of these pistols for quite a few years before I realised they were not the same, and that happened when I found that their components were not interchangeable. I then found that the impostor had a solid brass body concealed beneath its heavy nickel plating. The real Bedford & Walker pistol of course had the normal cast steel construction.

The cosmetic similarities between the two pistols are remarkable, even as far as the grip shape, the square spanner hole in the rear cylinder plug, and the hole in the grip for accommodating a wire stock.

I eventually found that the lower pistol was actually a French copy of the Eureka, made by C.Martinier-Collin of St., Etienne around the same time. This is an 1884 catalogue showing the pistol. The pistol was made up into the 1890's:

These French copies are extremely rare in comparison with the Bedford & Walker Eureka, which itself is quite a rare pistol. I know of only three other examples of the copy at present, although there maybe be others sitting in collections, their true identity going unrealised.

So how do you tell the difference between them, without having to take them apart and checking, threads, dimension etc.? You may have spotted that the position of the rear sight is different in my two pistols, but this is not a reliable diagnostic, as genuine Bedford & Eureka pistols are known with rear sights both in the forward and the rear positions. In fact, the simplest, non-invasive test is to use a magnet, as the French copy will not attract the magnet due to its brass construction. It is best to do this on the grip, as if carried out on the cylinder, the underlying steel piston will give a false result.

A second means of identification is to look for the minute lettering impressed on the barrel of the genuine Eureka, which shows the patent details. There is no lettering on the Martinier-Collin copy.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone who finds out that he owns one of these very rare Eureka copies.

NB: Four examples of the French copy are known by John, his one and three others. Two of these are shown below.

With thanks to Bruce Jr.

This one in a Martinier-Collin case with original shoulder stock and dart puller which he acquired in 2016: 

Bruce Jr spotted this one on the vintageairguns.co.uk website: