Clerke First
- Category
- Pistol
- Barrel
- 51 mm
- Weight, empty
- Not recorded
- Introduced
- Not recorded
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Clerke First (often styled 'Clerke 1st') is an inexpensive American-made double/single-action revolver produced by Clerke Technicorp of Santa Monica, California. Built on a cast pot-metal frame with a steel barrel, it was offered as a six-shot in .22 Long Rifle (and a related .32 S&W chambering), typically with a 2-inch barrel, blade front sight, hand-ejector pull-pin swing-out cylinder, a blinding chrome finish, and black plastic grips. It is a classic post-1968 'Saturday night special'.
The Clerke First was one of the first true 'Saturday night specials' - a wave of cheap domestic handguns that sprang up after the 1968 Gun Control Act blocked imports of inexpensive foreign pocket guns on 'sporting purposes' grounds, with capitalism rushing to fill the void.
Frame is cast pot metal; on some examples the cylinder is retained by a rivet. A closely related model was sold as the Clerke 'Terrier One'.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Clerke Technicorp
- Category
- Pistol
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Discontinued
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 51 mm
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Double action
- Firing mechanism
- Double action single action
- Trigger
- Double action
- Capacity
- 6
- Magazine
- Rotary
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Zinc
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Polymer
- Finish
- Chrome
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Effective range
- 10 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Fixed sights
Blade front sight
Pull pin swing out cylinder
Hand ejector
Standing
How it compares
This record has too few measurements to compare with others yet.
Answers
Questions about the Clerke First
What caliber is the Clerke First?
The Clerke First is chambered in .22 Long Rifle.
How many rounds does the Clerke First hold?
The Clerke First holds 6 rounds, fed from a rotary magazine.
How long is the Clerke First?
The Clerke First has a 51 mm (2.01 in) barrel.
Who makes the Clerke First?
The Clerke First is made by Clerke Technicorp (United States). It was designed by Bill Clerke.
How does the Clerke First operate?
The Clerke First uses a double action, and its firing mechanism is double action single action.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/clerke-1st' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "clerke-1st", "name": "Clerke First", "manufacturer": { "id": "clerke-technicorp", "name": "Clerke Technicorp", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": null, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "0850a23213ff473862918a0910db3636cc0ff0d4da2df90e1e8dab738f94bfb0" }, "category": { "id": "pistol", "name": "Pistol", "description": "Handguns designed to be fired with one or two hands" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": null, "barrel_length_mm": 51, "weight_empty_g": null, "action_type": "double_action"}