This belongs to a good friend of mine. I saw it hanging above his fireplace after a day of shooting and thought it was a very cool gun. There are no markings on it anywhere. As you can see, the triggers stay hidden, flush with the frame until you cock the hammer that it operates. Also, you can half cock both hammers and press a release button on top to open the barrels. It opens much like a break open shotgun. There are no firing pins, but there is one small hole on the tops of each barrel where it looks like one of those old school percussion caps would stick through (being fired when the hammer fell). The pistol functions perfectly, and I bet it would fire rounds (not that I would try) if we knew what rounds it fired. I tried looking online and through books. I did find one online, but there was no information and it had seized/broken parts. The only real clue I've found is that it was called a "boot gun" and is Civil War era possibly made in Europe. Kind of hard to believe anything when nobody can give specifics like a company name, caliber, etc... Any help would be greatly apprieciated!
15mm pinfire cartridge... http://www.shilohrelics.com/cgi-bin/Dis ... .asp?98156 It's no relic, since it's not a religious icon, but it's mo debly old. Interesting concept: scroll down for the pinfire: http://www.armorypub.com/2000/5-00.htm Available from this website for only $25/round: http://antiqueammoandarms.com/graphics/069.jpg
I have one almost exactly like it. The grip on mine is a little different. It is definitely a pinfire. From what I've found out. Most of them are Belgian made. There were also some Italian ones made. Manufactured from mid to late 1800's. Here's mine.
Mine was left to me by my Grandmother. I don't know the story on it. I guess maybe it belonged to one of her grandparents.
What a small world... That's pretty cool. Things like this intrigue me. I would love to know the story behind them, who owned them, if they were used to kill, and why. It would be sweet if some pirate owned it!