This is a 4" .357 Magnum Mateba 6 Unica autorevolver, serial number 002245. It was proofed in Italy with a 2003 date code BT, as made in Pavia, the capital of Lombardia, by MA·TE·BA, standing for Macchine Termo-Balistiche, a generic academic Italian designation of firearms.
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MA·TE·BA Arms was founded by Emilio Ghisoni in the early Seventies, located in the basement of his home. Born in 1937 and orphaned at the age of 19, Ghisoni abandoned the study of classics to take over the manufacture of machines for making pasta that he inherited from his father.
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Ten years later he extended his product line to autopistols and revolvers of his unconventional patented designs. Ghisoni patented and commercialized his first handgun design in the late Seventies, as the .22LR MT-l bullseye competition pistol, a streamlined and integrated Latin take on the fashionable forward magazine modular pattern of the Walther GSP, the brainchild of Swedish silversmith Thore Eldh. In 1983, Ghisoni applied the same layout to the MTR revolver of elevated loading capacity, also available as the MTRC carbine. Distinguished by their low bore axis achieved by placing the cylinder ahead of the trigger guard, the MTR family was available in different calibers, with ammunition capacity ranging from 8 to 20 shots depending on the calibers: eight in .38 Special and .357 Magnum, designated respectively as MTR-8/MTRC-8/MTRC-8L, and MTR-8M/MTRC-8M/MTRC-8ML; twelve or fourteen in .38 Special, designated as MTR-12/MTRC-12; and fourteen or twenty in .22LR, designated as MTR-14 or MTR-20/MTRC-20. Borrowing another feature from autopistols, these revolvers were loaded using a hinged sheet metal cartridge clip integrated with a recoil plate, ensuring consistent headspacing between cylinder chambers. In 1985, Ghisoni launched the .38 Special MTR-6 revolver, distinguished by the low-slung, hand-detachable barrel aligned with the 6 o’clock cylinder chamber, in nine lengths ranging from 2" to 11" in 1" increments. The same design was also available in the .357 Magnum MTR-6 M revolver. In 1988 and 1990, these revolvers evolved into the similarly configured models 2006 and 2006 C, respectively. And in 1991 came .38 Special 2007 S 3 with a 3" barrel, .38 Special 2007 S 4 with a 3" barrel, and .38 Special 2007 S 6 with a 6" barrel. Regrettably, Ghisoni’s patented 1994 design for a short recoil locked breech autopistol remains stillborn.
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After making and patenting its first prototype in 1987, Ghisoni shelved his autorevolver project for a decade. Direct heir of the Webley-Fosbery automatic revolver, the Mateba 6 Unica Autorevolver inherited the 6 o’clock position of the barrel from Ghisoni’s previous design projects. This feature reduced the elevation of the axis of the barrel over the axis of the shooter’s hand, and therefore minimized its tendency to rise under recoil. It bears notice that the effort to stabilize a high bore axis against recoil resists both the rearward recoil push and the upward torque momentum by applying opposing forces at the top rear and lower front of the grip, resulting in a couple that opposes the push and torque of recoil with the top of the shooter’s hand in the rear and its lower fingers at the front. A lower bore axis yields the same recoil force, while reducing its torque.
The 6 Unica barrel was tensioned in an aluminum alloy sleeve that carried the front sight adjustable for both windage and elevation. The two pin barrel end T-wrench allowed the shooter to remove the barrel and replace it with another of a different length. Barrel lengths of 3, 4, 6 and 8 inches were offered by the manufacturer.
The autorevolver comprised two assemblies. The upper assembly was a cannon reciprocating over the frame supported by the shooter’s hand in the course of the firing cycle. As designated by Ghisoni, the castle (il castello), or the open top cylinder frame that carried the barrel (la canna) tensioned in its sleeve, and slid back and forth along the grip frame (l’impugnatura) that housed the firing system, tensioned by a robust recoil spring. It took 16mm of cannon travel to cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder. The six-chamber cylinder (il tamburo) was attached to the cylinder frame by an outboard yoke, and could be swung out to the left side of the cannon. Its outer surface was a gently rounded hexagonal prism that flared into a 40mm round cross-section at its rear face, which housed a traditional ratchet extractor (l’espulsore) on a stem that locked into the breech face of the castle. Radial lockup of the cylinder was accomplished by the cylinder stop (pistone blocc tamburo) fitting into the breech face of the cylinder. This system enabled Ghisoni to omit the lateral crescent notches that received the locking bolt in conventional revolvers. The locking notches of the 6 Unica appeared instead in the rear face of the cylinder, ensuring its stability under firing in every stafe of its movement over the grip frame, and avoiding the removal of steel at the side of its chambers. A similar locking system was featured in the Colt M1877 .38 and .41 caliber revolvers over a century earlier. The two Colts, however, were not equipped with a swing-out cylinder. Cylinder release of the 6 Unica was achieved by lowering a pair of levers, located on either side of the grip frame, just below the fixed rear sight.
Although self-cocking revolvers had been in use for many years prior to 1877, it was not until that year that such an arm was offered by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co., of Hartford, Conn. Designed in 1876 by Colt employee William Mason, the Double Action or DA model was initially introduced in the .38 caliber, followed by similar offerings in the .41 and .32 calibers.
Unlike the Webley-Fosbery, which rotated the cylinder halfway during the retraction of the frame, completing its rotation during its return forward, the cylinder of the Autorevolver rotated only during the forward movement of the cannon. This feature enabled Ghisoni to reduce the retrograde motion of the cannon to 16 mm, and to ensure that the rotation of the cylinder in no way depended upon the greater or lesser recoil force, but was achieved solely by the fixed force of the recoil spring. This aspect of the 6 Unica design increased its reliability and reduced the stress of its components during the firing cycle.
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At the turn of the century, the brand name and intellectual property of MA·TE·BA was taken over by Ghisoni’s fellow inventor, Sergio Mottana, who sought to appeal to the American firearms market by scaling up Ghisoni’s patented autorevolver design featuring a quintessentially Italian desmodromic action, from its classic .357 S&W Magnum chambering, to the big bores of .44 Remington Magnum and .454 Casull. Mottana proceeded to promote his new semi-automatic revolvers in the United States at the 2001 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Between 2001 and 2004, Mottana manufactured about 2,000 variously configured 6 Unica autorevolvers and Grifone autorevolving carbines in these calibers.
Factory authorized American import agents acquired around 80% of MA·TE·BA’s autorevolver and autorevolving carbine output. They included American Western Arms Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, marked “AWA INT.L FL USA”, American Arms International of North Kansas City, Missouri, marked “AAI NKC MO”, and Pars International Corp. of Louisville, Kentucky, marked “PARS INTL.LOU.KY”.
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Funded by a German investor and managed by Sergio’s son Valentino, MA·TE·BA went out of business in 2005. Meanwhile, in the summer of 2000, shortly after his divestment from Macchine Termo-Balistiche (MA·TE·BA), Emilio Ghisoni formed a new home-based company, Thermoballistic Machines di Emilio Ghisoni (THE·MA), dedicated to manufacturing machinery for the food industry. Notwithstanding the exigencies of this day job, Ghisoni continued to moonlight in handgun design. His collaboration with a fellow inventor Antonio Cudazzo ensued in the THE·MA Rhino revolver design. While Ghisoni designed the action and overall layout of the Rhino, Cudazzo defined its compact styling and ergonomics. Unfortunately, Emilio Ghisoni died of bone cancer on April 24, 2008, before the Rhino project was finalized. Antonio Cudazzo found a new partner in Rino Chiappa, the president of the family business Chiappa Firearms, who brought the Rhino to market in late 2009.
To be expanded and continued.
MA·TE·BA Arms was founded by Emilio Ghisoni in the early Seventies, located in the basement of his home. Born in 1937 and orphaned at the age of 19, Ghisoni abandoned the study of classics to take over the manufacture of machines for making pasta that he inherited from his father.
Ten years later he extended his product line to autopistols and revolvers of his unconventional patented designs. Ghisoni patented and commercialized his first handgun design in the late Seventies, as the .22LR MT-l bullseye competition pistol, a streamlined and integrated Latin take on the fashionable forward magazine modular pattern of the Walther GSP, the brainchild of Swedish silversmith Thore Eldh. In 1983, Ghisoni applied the same layout to the MTR revolver of elevated loading capacity, also available as the MTRC carbine. Distinguished by their low bore axis achieved by placing the cylinder ahead of the trigger guard, the MTR family was available in different calibers, with ammunition capacity ranging from 8 to 20 shots depending on the calibers: eight in .38 Special and .357 Magnum, designated respectively as MTR-8/MTRC-8/MTRC-8L, and MTR-8M/MTRC-8M/MTRC-8ML; twelve or fourteen in .38 Special, designated as MTR-12/MTRC-12; and fourteen or twenty in .22LR, designated as MTR-14 or MTR-20/MTRC-20. Borrowing another feature from autopistols, these revolvers were loaded using a hinged sheet metal cartridge clip integrated with a recoil plate, ensuring consistent headspacing between cylinder chambers. In 1985, Ghisoni launched the .38 Special MTR-6 revolver, distinguished by the low-slung, hand-detachable barrel aligned with the 6 o’clock cylinder chamber, in nine lengths ranging from 2" to 11" in 1" increments. The same design was also available in the .357 Magnum MTR-6 M revolver. In 1988 and 1990, these revolvers evolved into the similarly configured models 2006 and 2006 C, respectively. And in 1991 came .38 Special 2007 S 3 with a 3" barrel, .38 Special 2007 S 4 with a 3" barrel, and .38 Special 2007 S 6 with a 6" barrel. Regrettably, Ghisoni’s patented 1994 design for a short recoil locked breech autopistol remains stillborn.
After making and patenting its first prototype in 1987, Ghisoni shelved his autorevolver project for a decade. Direct heir of the Webley-Fosbery automatic revolver, the Mateba 6 Unica Autorevolver inherited the 6 o’clock position of the barrel from Ghisoni’s previous design projects. This feature reduced the elevation of the axis of the barrel over the axis of the shooter’s hand, and therefore minimized its tendency to rise under recoil. It bears notice that the effort to stabilize a high bore axis against recoil resists both the rearward recoil push and the upward torque momentum by applying opposing forces at the top rear and lower front of the grip, resulting in a couple that opposes the push and torque of recoil with the top of the shooter’s hand in the rear and its lower fingers at the front. A lower bore axis yields the same recoil force, while reducing its torque.
The 6 Unica barrel was tensioned in an aluminum alloy sleeve that carried the front sight adjustable for both windage and elevation. The two pin barrel end T-wrench allowed the shooter to remove the barrel and replace it with another of a different length. Barrel lengths of 3, 4, 6 and 8 inches were offered by the manufacturer.
The autorevolver comprised two assemblies. The upper assembly was a cannon reciprocating over the frame supported by the shooter’s hand in the course of the firing cycle. As designated by Ghisoni, the castle (il castello), or the open top cylinder frame that carried the barrel (la canna) tensioned in its sleeve, and slid back and forth along the grip frame (l’impugnatura) that housed the firing system, tensioned by a robust recoil spring. It took 16mm of cannon travel to cock the hammer and rotate the cylinder. The six-chamber cylinder (il tamburo) was attached to the cylinder frame by an outboard yoke, and could be swung out to the left side of the cannon. Its outer surface was a gently rounded hexagonal prism that flared into a 40mm round cross-section at its rear face, which housed a traditional ratchet extractor (l’espulsore) on a stem that locked into the breech face of the castle. Radial lockup of the cylinder was accomplished by the cylinder stop (pistone blocc tamburo) fitting into the breech face of the cylinder. This system enabled Ghisoni to omit the lateral crescent notches that received the locking bolt in conventional revolvers. The locking notches of the 6 Unica appeared instead in the rear face of the cylinder, ensuring its stability under firing in every stafe of its movement over the grip frame, and avoiding the removal of steel at the side of its chambers. A similar locking system was featured in the Colt M1877 .38 and .41 caliber revolvers over a century earlier. The two Colts, however, were not equipped with a swing-out cylinder. Cylinder release of the 6 Unica was achieved by lowering a pair of levers, located on either side of the grip frame, just below the fixed rear sight.
Although self-cocking revolvers had been in use for many years prior to 1877, it was not until that year that such an arm was offered by Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co., of Hartford, Conn. Designed in 1876 by Colt employee William Mason, the Double Action or DA model was initially introduced in the .38 caliber, followed by similar offerings in the .41 and .32 calibers.
Unlike the Webley-Fosbery, which rotated the cylinder halfway during the retraction of the frame, completing its rotation during its return forward, the cylinder of the Autorevolver rotated only during the forward movement of the cannon. This feature enabled Ghisoni to reduce the retrograde motion of the cannon to 16 mm, and to ensure that the rotation of the cylinder in no way depended upon the greater or lesser recoil force, but was achieved solely by the fixed force of the recoil spring. This aspect of the 6 Unica design increased its reliability and reduced the stress of its components during the firing cycle.
At the turn of the century, the brand name and intellectual property of MA·TE·BA was taken over by Ghisoni’s fellow inventor, Sergio Mottana, who sought to appeal to the American firearms market by scaling up Ghisoni’s patented autorevolver design featuring a quintessentially Italian desmodromic action, from its classic .357 S&W Magnum chambering, to the big bores of .44 Remington Magnum and .454 Casull. Mottana proceeded to promote his new semi-automatic revolvers in the United States at the 2001 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Between 2001 and 2004, Mottana manufactured about 2,000 variously configured 6 Unica autorevolvers and Grifone autorevolving carbines in these calibers.
Factory authorized American import agents acquired around 80% of MA·TE·BA’s autorevolver and autorevolving carbine output. They included American Western Arms Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, marked “AWA INT.L FL USA”, American Arms International of North Kansas City, Missouri, marked “AAI NKC MO”, and Pars International Corp. of Louisville, Kentucky, marked “PARS INTL.LOU.KY”.
Funded by a German investor and managed by Sergio’s son Valentino, MA·TE·BA went out of business in 2005. Meanwhile, in the summer of 2000, shortly after his divestment from Macchine Termo-Balistiche (MA·TE·BA), Emilio Ghisoni formed a new home-based company, Thermoballistic Machines di Emilio Ghisoni (THE·MA), dedicated to manufacturing machinery for the food industry. Notwithstanding the exigencies of this day job, Ghisoni continued to moonlight in handgun design. His collaboration with a fellow inventor Antonio Cudazzo ensued in the THE·MA Rhino revolver design. While Ghisoni designed the action and overall layout of the Rhino, Cudazzo defined its compact styling and ergonomics. Unfortunately, Emilio Ghisoni died of bone cancer on April 24, 2008, before the Rhino project was finalized. Antonio Cudazzo found a new partner in Rino Chiappa, the president of the family business Chiappa Firearms, who brought the Rhino to market in late 2009.
To be expanded and continued.
