Amazing Old Bangers: 10 Interesting and Unusual Antique Guns
Even when it comes to weapons, man’s creative and dare I say artistic, ingenuity comes to the fore. If it is possible to have one weapon, then why not turn that weapon into two by fixing a blade or a club on it? As for pistols – let’s have six barrels, a muff pistol, a palm pistol, or a ring pistol. This is a look at some interesting and some unusual antique guns that gunsmiths have created in the past.
Also here, is the gun described as “the most beautiful gun in the world” and the story of how it came to be in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(Cased Percussion Pepperbox Pistol)
The Development of the Firing Mechanism
In simplistic terms, the earliest forms of firing mechanism involved manually placing a burning ember or flame to a hole in the top of the barrel of a “gun”. This was replaced by a matchlock, which basically was a method of securing a very slow burning fuse (known as a match) to the side of the gun, which was introduced to the touch hole to explode the powder in the gun.
Of course wet conditions or an ember in close proximity to the powder were not the most favourable of situations and accidents with muskets were not uncommon
The breakthrough came with the invention of the Wheellock.
This involved mechanically moving a scored disk of steel against a piece of mineral called pyrite to cause sparks. The easiest way to understand this is to look at a modern flint cigarette lighter. This works in basically the same way.
The mechanism of the Wheelock was rather complicated and there were attempts to simplify it. There were several variations but one of the most popular was a Dutch invention called the Snaphaunce. (Derived from the Dutch “snap haan” meaning snapping hen, a reference to the movement of the arm containing the flint.) There were problems because of a need to have a moveable cap over the ignition hole, to stop accidental ignition and to keep the powder dry.
However it was not until the invention of the Flintlock in France by Marin Le Bourgeoys that a far more reliable mechanism came into being. This involved an arm containing a piece of flint striking a metal L shaped plate. This not only caused a spark but forced the plate to uncover the touch hole at the same moment.
This was a system that would last for around two and a half centuries until the development of percussion methods of firing took over.
Of course as well as working on the firing mechanism, gunsmiths were also looking at ways of developing the guns themselves
Combined Pernach Mace and Wheellock Pistol
The oldest weapon here is a combination of a pistol and a mace. It is from Northern Europe, from Saxony, from the last quarter of the 16th century (1575-1600). It is on display in The Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps (founded in 1703 in St Petersburg, Russia by Peter the Great.)
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28 Comments
Bick Parker, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Good, long, article. Not so keen on this site mind, it began to load [forgive the pun] then unload, in fact, I thought I was never going to be able to leave a comment – then bang, it did!
Louie Jerome, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Great article and interesting info. Some excelent photos too. I love the intricate work that went into crafting some of these old weapons.
Unofre Pili, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Very interesting article. Goes to show the evolution of human thinking as well. The Six Shot Percussion Pepper Box Revolver, made me think the inventor missed a perfect idea of making it singled barrel as it appears today.Fascinating article really.
chris73, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Not so keen too, but i was lucky to “meet” many of them and also many others from close in a friends private collection….lucky him 
Allana Calhoun, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Very nice article! Interesting facts and pictures. I find weaponry of all kinds quite fascinating.
Lostash, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Some fascinating info here. The last gun is a real beauty, and the ring pistol is just amazing!
George W Whitehead, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Great, well researched article, CJ. These guns are really beautifully engineered but…are they accurate enough to take a rats eye out at a distance as well as my old unadorned, no engraved metalwork, no inlaid mother of pearl ‘Made in China’gun can?
Patrick Bernauw, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Where Fine Arts Meet Fire Arms! Antique weaponry at its best!
Rod Ferrandino, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Alright, Chris, what’s up? Now we have the guns article, to go along with the blades; are there a few little imperialistic urges you are having that I should know about?
Well researched, well written; you know , the usual C. Jordan effort.
Mystify, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
A very well researched,well written and interesting article.Excellent work as per usual.Thanks for posting the pictures with it,it added to the article by seeing them.
RS Wing, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
I like the pepper box revolver, the palm pistol is pretty cool,as well as the ring pistol…never knew anything like that existed and the tschinke….wow, what a work of fine artful craftsmanship, beautiful firearm. I particuliarly like the chinese made SKS,…real simple to break down and very effective with the right rounds, also for a pistol the walther PPK is another sweet handgun…very small but very reliable. Very well put together and well studied content, awesome piece!
CHAN LEE PENG, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
These guns look marvelous and amazing. A good collection here and they’re matched well with the text. Liked it.
Juancav, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Wonderful stuff a well researched article.
Anna Ski, posted this comment on Jun 25th, 2009
Interesting pieces and great collectors items.
Birdie, posted this comment on Jun 25th, 2009
The ring pistol was truly fascinating, but can i assume that it was very rarely caable of being fatal, what with such small projectiles? the blunderbuss pistols with bayonets intrigued me as i actually have replica of a gun with a simliar attatchment.
Lots of well researched and useful info
well done.
Goodselfme, posted this comment on Jun 25th, 2009
I like guns. I was privvy to view a most valued collection some years ago. I swooned. Thank you for this sight as well.
Nathan G, posted this comment on Jun 25th, 2009
I’m not into guns but this was very interesting
lasersec, posted this comment on Jun 26th, 2009
Thanks for information it really to infomative.
carl87, posted this comment on Jun 26th, 2009
Thank you for sharing your information .I agree with you!
hfj, posted this comment on Jun 26th, 2009
Nice article and research. Some very interesting and unusual firearms. Well done.
R J Evans, posted this comment on Jun 27th, 2009
Some great guns here! Almost easy to forget just how deadly they are! Blogged at webphemera.com
Mary Lou Stein, posted this comment on Jun 28th, 2009
Your article is well done. Adding pictures enhance the written material to create a professional piece of writing. Did you try to have it published in a sports magazine? It has that quality.
Ruby Hawk, posted this comment on Jun 28th, 2009
Interesting information, My family loves and gun shows.
spiritwalker, posted this comment on Sep 22nd, 2009
I never knew a ring pistol was in existence. I love guns. I was also unaware that dueling was supposed to be non fatal. I thought that the object of the duel was murder. Learn something new everyday.
clay hurtubise, posted this comment on Sep 25th, 2009
And here I thought it was going to be about some of my neighbors!
Good work.
Thanks,
Clay
Robert Palmer, posted this comment on Jun 18th, 2010
Good article! It is thought ,among serious collectors, that the ring pistol is of recent manufacture as a modest number of them showed up on the market at the same time from England, where excellent fakes and oddities are being cranked out. Still interesting tho.
s hayes, posted this comment on Jun 24th, 2009
Fantastic article – the ring and palm pistols are fascinating x