The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-19
DEADLY WEAPONS.
The Evolution of the Modern RevoI-

From the Neo York Star.

apart with the famous old dueling pistols of
the period-weapons as large as an army
revolver of to-day-fourteen inches long,
single barreled, and loaded with powder and
ball To-day secondhand gun dealer has
no use for one of these Anticipated weapons.
Duelng Is practically out Of date, and the
shooting man now buys a hammerless
double action revolver, with its automatic
cartridge eJector. Thus have fashions in
the shooting irons changed. The evolution
or the pistol has kept pace with the scien-
tine development of almost every other pro-
! duction involving inventive genius and
skill in construction.
Modern pistol history does not begin until
just within the second quarter of the
present century. In 1926 the weapon in use
was the oldtime filntlock, muZZle loaded
with powder and ball. In 1880 Samuel Colt
brought out "a device for combining a num-
Der OF long barrels so as to rotate upon a
spindle by the act of cooking the lock-
The weapon, called the pepper box" was
the primitive revolver. Six years later, as
the story goes, he obtained a patent for an
Improvement upon this plan. using rotary
cylinder containing seven chambers, all of
which discharge through one barrel" Here
was the revolver of to-day.
Neither the. pepper box" nor the first
revolver. both muzze leaders themselves,
| drove out the dueling pistol Just then in the
hight of its popularity, but they speedily
became the hand weapons of the plains and
OF the "Forty-niners. Powder and ball
| were, after awhile, held more compacty
together In little paper cartridge, set fire
to by percussion cap, invented at this time.
The cap was placed on nipple at the rear
OF each chamber of the cylinder, and upon
1t fell the hammer when the trigger was
pulled.
Contemporary with these weapons svas
the deadly little Derringer, famous in Mis-
slssippl river brawls. In general scheme it
was simply a dueling pistol on a small
scale, except that it was rified and of a
large bore-usually a caliber of Al. The
name was derived from that of the maker,
Defringer, of Philadelphia. 1t was bit of
weapon, from two to five inches Tonga
pocket piece par excellence. In fact, the
western gamblers always carried them in a
front trousers pocket, and when occasion
arose, quickly putting their hand therein,
would shoot-and kill-through the cloth.
Long did the Derringers hold their ground
against the new revolvers. But just before
the war they had to CO. Their one or two
barreled compactneSs was no match for the
revolver's five shots.
TO Lefaucheux.belongs
the credit of inventing the breech loader
This was in 1886; but 10 the United States,
at least, the scheme did not seem to be ap-
preciated, and muzze leaders were in use
until 1858. In that year Rolin White took
out patent for inserting the cartridge at
the rear end of the cylinder, the chamber of
the cylinder being bored entirely through,
and the barrel 'broken" upward instead of
downward, as is the case to-day. With this
the rim" cartridge was used-a cartridge
entirely of metal, where the hammer fell on
some portion of the rim, on which the full
inmate was placed
But the rim was not the first metal cart
ridge. Early in the 'forties Lefauchex COM
menced experimenting IN this direction. His
first device was combination form, paper
cartridge with metal base In 1916 he
brought out the first distinctively metal
cartridge, known as the "pin fire. still in
use and called by his name Here the ham
mer fell upon pin projecting out nearly
half an inch. The center fire" most used
to-day. where the hammer strikes against
depression exactly in the middle, is a prod
uct of the sixties, but only within the last
fifteen years has it become popular.
During the war period it was take what
you can get" The government used princi-
pally muzzle-loading 45-caliber Colt; for
the new breeca-loading weapon, as yet in its
infancy, was turned out in very limited
quantities. The south was even worse off.
There, for the most part, old-fashioned
weapons were in use, though they managed
to secure few Of newer style
During the sixties a series of clever de-
vices in firearms appeared. There were
constant attempts to get away from the
awkward muzze loading and yet evade the
patent held on loading at the breach. Few
of these experimental pistols have sur
vived, except as curiosities. One of them
was the "Slocum," with a barrel consisting
Of fiuo al %,.IN al
The SHARP" of '64-'65 had four barrels
and revolving hammer.
1t was only small affair, made in 90, 80
and 80 caliber The "Elliot" of a little
later date, four and five barreled, had a con-
cealed hammer and a curious ring trigger.
TO this period also belongs that odd pistol
with hammer underneath, which actually
rose instead of falling.
Made In the village of Catskill-on- Hud-
son, transgreSsing no patents, and never
patented itself, was that curious little
weapon called "the knuckle pistol 1t DOS
sesses an especial interest from being almost
purely local. 1t was the distinctive defense
back in the seventies of the New York
tough 'My friend" was the name it
went by in the criminal parts of town. II
was principally cylinder and stock. The
cylinder, four chanpered, went almost to
the end of the barrel. The stock, the
greater part of the pistol, dropped down
much below, and in its lower end was a
thumb hole for its first service-that of
firing. For this pistol had double use.
Immediately the four shots were exhausted,
the man brought to bay would grasp it's
barrel and use the stock, heavily loaded, as
a miniature bludgeon. Nowadays these
weapons-those left of them-lie in second
hand Bowery shops The tough" of to-
day secs the advantage in the latest revol-
yer out, with the automatic ejector.
Double-action revolvers, cooked either
with the trigger or the thumb, were known
in the days of powder and ball. before the
time of metal cartridges. The earliest
Remington, the "Rider" patent was the first
of these. The pepper box" was single
action. 1t was self-cocking, as is the new
hammerless revolver. an invention of the
last couple of years, where for purposes of
safety, the hammer is completely inclosed
This is almost the last thing that has been
done in pistol making. The very last thing
is the folding hammer" Here the top Of
the hammer lies just on level or slightly
below the top of the barrel, there being
nothing to project to get caught
The automatic ejector was devised in
1865. Originally the barrel was broken
down, the ejector moving with the hinge.
In the newer pistols, however, within the
last few years, the barrel is broken sideways
by screw motion. In the old style auto
matte pistol, should a cartridge rust IN the
rlTV.I Il ILL