Short Dardick Article in May 2014 Rifleman

[Ed Johnson 0]

To Dardick Collectors....there is a short blurb article on the Dardick starting on page 70 of the May Rifleman. It doesn't do justice to the effort or explain the objectives of the project, but the photos are decent and you may want to save the article for your files. Ed J

[Joseph Scott 0]

I recently sold a Dardick pistol and .22 carbine adapter, both in factory boxes. The principal idea was to make a gun that the cartridge did not have to reciprocate in and out of a chamber. Dardick's design was to go only sideways, up from a handle magazine and rotate through the "chamber" and out the side. The pistol I sold had a very heavy trigger as it was double action. I found out that there was more ammo made than guns and it is available through ammo collectors.

[Ed Johnson 0]

Back in the fifties and sixties, Police were still using revolvers but wanted more ammo capability as in the semi-auto pistols. Smith & Wesson had (I believe) a semi-auto model 59 (?) in 9 mm (?) that could hold about 15 cartridges. People were still concerned about the occasional jamming and misfires with a semi-auto, especially in combat situations. The Dardick was an attempt to marry the reliability of a revolver with the increased magazine capacity of a semi-auto....still using the .38 special ammo....but mounted in Celanese Fortiflex plastic triangular cartridges that rotated around an enclosed housing. The friction of the rotation against the sidewalls contributed to a very heavy trigger pull in double action, making aim difficult. Both Steve Dardick (Dave's son) and myself worked during summers at the factory in Hamden, CT during the late '50's so we got good first-hand looks at the project. The concept of the "open chamber" system and the project itself is described in the 2002 Johnson book on pages 229 - 232 along with photos.