TINCANBANDIT's Gunsmithing: September 2022

The story of the Dardick revolver/pistol starts with the man who conceived the unorthodox action and cartridges it fired.
Before WWII David Dardick worked for American Armament on the 37mm automatic aircraft cannon program.
He thought that some of the innovations in automatic cannon fire could be improved by using a different shape. This idea however was not new, Otto Schneeloch of Brooklyn, NY received a patent in 1872 for triangle shaped cartridges.

The concept is that the triangle shape as two advantages, one: you can fit more rounds in each magazine, two: the shape helps self center and guide themselves without jamming. The system relies on an open sided chamber for which a patent was applied for in 1954.

The cartridges were named "trounds" a combination of the two words triangle and round. The triangle exterior was made of a special plastic known as "Celanese Fortiflex". The initial caliber was .357 and comparable to the .38 Special in power. A .30 caliber version and adaptors to shoot .22 LR were also available.

As stated in the ad above, the trigger was double action and the feed mechanism was semi-automatic. The pistol was also designed to be modular.

A screw at the front of the frame (between the trigger guard and barrel) allowed the user to switch barrels or even convert the pistol into a carbine.

Two models, three calibers, two barrel lengths and an option for a carbine attachment were offered. Other calibers and models were experimented with but did not make it into production.
The model 1100 held 11 rounds, the 1500 held 15 and the never produced 2000 model held...you guessed it, 20 rounds....or Trounds that is.

Production of the revolver/pistol began in 1958 at a small factory in Hamden, Connecticut. It was just down the road from the Bellmore Johnson shop where the Whitney Wolverine was built and a couple of miles from High Standard's plant.

Failures:

The gun had a few things going against it from the beginning. The first was the form....it wasn't very pretty, while it looked sort of space aged, it was downright ancient compared to the Whitney Wolverine which was being made just down the street from the Dardick factory.
Another thing that the Dardick had to overcome was the chambering. The .38 Special was on it's way out. It had been superseded by the .357 Magnum and the .44 and .41 Magnums were on the horizon. The open chamber design of the Dardick, meant that this pistol would always be chambered in a low pressure round.

Then there is the trigger pull......the three chamber cylinder meant that the hand which rotated the cylinder had to move it farther than a five or six shot cylinder. This took away the mechanical advantage and made for a long and stiff trigger pull, something which is not conducive to accurate shooting.

Lastly the "Celanese Fortiflex" turned out to be a dud in the long run, many of the cases would warp with age, and a warped Tround would not feed.

After just a year or so of production, the company raised the white flag and closed up shop. Production figures are not available and estimates vary between 50 something and 200. The remaining parts were sold to Numrich Arms (Gun Parts Corp) in West Hurley, NY and there is a possibility that some guns were completed later from parts and pieces.

What Remains:

The gun is one of the most written about in firearms history, I guess that tells you what a deviation from the norm it was.

The factory that once sat at 1313 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden is long gone. In it's place is a strip mall, with a Subway sandwich shop occupying the space

The map below shows the locations of the gun makers in Hamden in the 1950's. Just off the map is the Mill River and the site of Eli Whitney's gun factory.