Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-30
ABOUT SHOOTING IRONS.
Eashions Hayo Changed Considerably
 @Slnco Flint-L0ck Times.

ssas NoOOt SVSOiu 'oONOs Fashions Have Changed Considerably
 @Slnce Flint-Lock Times.
 elf you are interested in shooting irons," Said gun dealer in Lower Broadway not long ago to a New York Sun reporter, slet me show you some pistols. They will indi- cate how fashions have changed among shooting men during the last forty years"
 In neat mahogany case which the dealer placed on the counter lay two single-bar reled pistols. The barrels were a foot long. :. The bore was half inch in diameter. Bar rels, locks and stocks were elaborately and tastefully engraved by hand. The stocks were peculiar in shape in that horn pro jected so as to fit between the thumb and the rest of the hand and keep the weapon from jumping up when fired. There was Q circle of steel in the case that was for cut ting patches for the round ball used in load ing the pistol. Bullet molds were also in place, and a powder flask and cap box as well. It was first-class dueling outfit.
 ''They are for sale," said the dealer, ''be- cause dueling is out of fashion. They cost a lot of money when new, and it will take $25 now to buy the outfit. Forty years ago no other sort of weapon was used in the shooting galleries. The gallery man loaded the weapons and gave the word as if a duel was in progress, and the would-be expert fired at the outline of a man placed twelve paces away. Although revolvers were in- vented before the date speak ot, the duel- ing pistol held it's own in the shooting gal leries until after the war.
 "While shooting men chung to the duel- ing pistol for gallery practice in anticipation they could not carry such weapon around with them. The derringer was accordingly brought out as pocket pistol. It was a short weapon, the barrel being but two and half inches long, but in the hands of the old-time gamblers on the Mississippi steam boats it was deadly weapon. They often fought duels with derringers, while in hand-to-hand conflicts derringers were in- variably used if any weapon besides bowie knife were drawn.
 "Of course the fact that the derringer had but one charge was noted. To make up for this two were carried. Then double barreled derringers were introduced, one barrel lying beside the other, as in Q shot gun. Conlin has a double barreled. flint lock derringer in his Broadway gallery. The flash pans were on top of the barrels. It was elaborately engraved, but it was about as unhandy a weapon to get out of Q mans pocket in hurry as could well be l imagined. Many of the double barreled weapons had bronze barrels, and just be- fore the war it was Q common thing for l funny writers to refer to double -barreled l brass pistols as the type of untrustworthi- ness. These weapons were generally of Belgian make and never had an extended l sale.
 "All this time the makers of revolvers had been pushing the sale of their weapons, but when one of those old revolvers is | looked at now one does not wonder that the derringer held it's own. The revolvers were larger and heavier than dueling pistols, and l were of use only on the frontier.
 1 "On the frontier they were, of course, | rapidly adopted, and, because of the fact that loading the cylinders with powder and ball was a slow process, the shooting men carried extra cylinders ready loaded, which were substituted for empty ones in time of need.
 l ''The invention of metal cartridges was great thing for pistol makers Many curious weapons were brought out during the war. l One of the most novel was a three barreled | weapon with the barrels arranged vertical l ly one above the other, while substantial bowie blade could be slid out beyond the muzzles on occasion. The blade was fixed there by a spring, and the empty pistol then became a wicked knife. The double bar reled derringer of the present time, with the barrels one on top of the other, was l evolved from this idea.
 l "After metal cartridges were adopted the production of light and efficient revolvers became possible, and no end of styles were brought out. Among host of worthless | cast-iron affair were few made by firms that proposed to make the best sort of 1 weapons possible, and these few firms are | still in the business. The good revolver proved so efficient that the use of derringers dropped almost entirely. There is only one firm now engaged in making derringers, and the demand scarcely justifies them in continuing the style. Where every gentle man once carried a brace, very few shoot ing men would now take one as gift, save as curiosity. And yet for man in close quarters no weapon is quite so efficient as
 the big-bored derringer.
 "After the war the popularity of the duel,
 save only in isolated districts, was gone, and l the use of duehng pistols even in shooting
 galleries was abandoned. Revolvers be-
 came the popular weapons even in galleries. But all this time couple of firms were
 manufacturing single barreled pistol that
 was much like the old dueling pistol in
 shape and weight, and yet used the conven-
 tent metal cartridge. Because these single
 barreled weapons were extremely accurate
 and the cartridges were cheap, say a 50 a
 thousand, the single -barreled target pistol
 has at least held on to the esteem of enough
 sporting men to warrant the continuance
 of it's manufacture. There are indications
 of a growth of popularity in the future.
 There are several features of the target
 pistol that especially commend it to the bet
 ter class of sportsmen, the better class as
 understand the term, including all who
 pride themselves more on one head of game
 killed clean by skillful shooting than on a
 score slaughtered by portable cannon. As
 rifles among these men increase in popular
 ity they will turn to the target pistol to re
 place, or at least go with the rifle for small
 game .4e
 ''There are mighty few men who have
 the skill to do it, but it IS possible for a man
 to bag as many cartridges as he ought to f kill in day with D target pistol only. It Is l q most admirable weapon for use in the