American Gunsmith

by Chick Blood

Be wary of what the owner wants you to do with this classic revolver.

In their own, tragic way Philippine islanders forced the US Army to adopt this large-caliber handgun. They had fought their Spanish masters for years in a quest for independence. That dream was crushed when the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ended the Spanish-American war and handed the islands over to the Unites States. The Filipino dream of independence refused to die. The major battles they’d waged and lost against the Spaniards resumed – and were lost – against their new enemy: Us. Thereafter, the Filipino warriors adopted tactics employed by what is considered the greatest light cavalry to ever take up arms — the Native American Indians–and turned to guerrilla warfare.