Pocket pistol

“ In fact it has ever been held that a small toy pocket pistol is a firearm for the purpose of the Act. There are various exceptions to the necessity of taking out this license, and it may be as well to enumerate them, especially as many people keep revolvers in their houses and would be astonished if they thought that a gun license was necessary for the so doing—but it is not, so long as the revolver is kept or used in a dwelling house, or the curtilage of a dwelling house. ”

“ It would even be quite right for any one to carry about a loaded revolver in his pocket merely as a protection in case he should be unexpectedly attacked, but any one carrying about with him such an article should be prepared to use it only in cases of great emergency, and should keep a clear head on his shoulders. ”

“ But it requires a man who has shot for many years to be able to do this; even an average shot goes very wide and wild in his shooting with such a short barrel.
These very short barrels are therefore useless for the general public for self-protection, except when the pistol actually touches the opponent.
Even the short police pistol requires a lot of learning. Most people imagine it is merely necessary to buy a little pistol “which I can put in my waistcoat pocket,” to become burglar proof.
[Pg 49] ”

“ If you want a hunter, buy an English hunter; if a harness horse, buy an American trotter. In the same way, for whatever purpose you want a pistol, buy one, if by any means you can do so, especially for that purpose. Anyhow, it is useless to compete with a short-barrelled pocket automatic against target pistols. This class of pistol is intended only for self-defence at short range, and has no pretensions to accuracy. ”

“ Lyon.
"I don't know whether there is or not; but I put my revolver and a box of cartridges into my pocket."
"I never owned a pistol of any kind, and have hardly fired a gun since I was a boy; but in the storeroom out of the library I found some very nice weapons,—a double-barrelled rifle and a fowling-piece."
"The colonel had two revolvers; and they must be somewhere about the library. A few years ago some horse-thieves were in this vicinity, and we kept a watch on the place every night for a couple of weeks," said Levi. ”

“ In inspecting the revolvers made by this firm, there will be found a number which are not adapted to fine shooting, but would be classed as short-range weapons of defence, or pocket-revolvers. Those with the 31⁄2-inch barrels would never be selected by the person desiring accuracy at any distance beyond a few yards. But the .32 and .38 calibres, with a 51⁄2-inch barrel, are considered by many as very fine shooting weapons. Cuts 3 and 4 .32 target revolvers, with extra barrel for converting into a pocket-revolver. ”

“ While carried in the pocket, or belt, there is no possibility of an accidental discharge of these pistols. Whenever it is required to clean the barrel and chamber, they can be taken to pieces in a moment, wiped out, oiled, and replaced.
“The hammer at full-cock forms the sight by which aim is [417] taken. The pistol is readily cocked by the thumb of the right hand, a plan in every way far superior to the arrangement whereby the hammer is raised by a pull on the trigger: this is in every respect most objectionable, the pull materially interfering with the correctness of aim ”

“ Tomorrow he would begin on the detailed list for use in soliciting outside offers.
Twenty-five wheel locks: four heavy South German dags, two singles and a pair; three Saxon pistols, with sharply dropped grips, a pair and one single; five French and Italian sixteenth-century pistols; a pair of small pocket or sash pistols; a pair of French petronels, and an extremely long seventeenth-century Dutch pistol with an ivory-covered stock and a carved ivory Venus-head for a pommel; eight seventeenth-century French, Italian and Flemish pistols. Rand noted them down, and was about to pass on ”

“ Even the possibility of gaining a spoon applies to only a few shooting clubs. The shooting galleries in black cellars, do not give prizes. You are supposed to be fully compensated, after being deafened by a man with a full charge revolver or automatic pistol blazing away into the darkness beside you, by paying for your targets, ammunition, and hire of a greasy revolver with a trigger-pull hard enough to break your finger and a report like a cannon, whilst you strain your eyes to see a black front sight in the darkness. ”

“ And then it came—a squaring of his feet for a firmer stance, the whipping of a hand toward his hip beneath the jacket he wore, and it came back in the space of an eye-wink, dragging in its clasp the dull blue of an automatic pistol. ”

“ Many a young gentleman calling himself a sportsman knows little of the capabilities of the weapon he wields, and cares less; his whole aim is to see how many head of game he can bag, and to blaze away is the order of the day, to the astonishment of poor Ponto, who, if he chance to run within range, sometimes gets a charge of shot in his tail.
In the Royal Navy the use and practice of [11] the pistol, and latterly of the revolver, has always been kept up. Consequently the Jack Tar knows more about the pistol and the military revolver than most men give him credit for. ”

“ The sale of second-hand pistols, for to that weapon the street-sellers’ or hawkers’ trade in arms seems confined, is larger than might be cursorily imagined.
There must be something seductive about the possession of a pistol, for I am assured by persons familiar with the trade, that they have sold them to men who were ignorant, when first invited to purchase, how the weapon was loaded or discharged, and seemed half afraid to handle it. Perhaps the possession imparts a sense of security. ”

“ They were equipped with rifle barrels and hair triggers, and were inlaid richly with silver, and more than once had been used on the field of honor. Whenever my grandfather went out for a walk, or to play whist at the house of a neighbor, I would get down these pistols and fight duels with myself in front of the looking-glass. With my left hand I would hold the handkerchief above my head, and with the other clutch the pistol at my side, and then, at the word, and as the handkerchief fluttered to the floor, I would take careful aim and pull the trigger. ”

“ While the others were handling it, the leader had gone on with his preparations. From the small wooden case already mentioned he had taken out a small powder-flask, a wad, a short steel ramrod, and a bullet. To these he added an ordinary percussion-cap, and last of all came a bar of black sealing-wax, and a curious narrow stick tipped with a steel button. On this button a cipher of some kind appeared to be engraved.
Having ranged these articles on the table before himself and his comrades, the old man received back the pistol, and proceeded to load it at the muzzle from the powder-flask. ”

“ Many makes of revolvers and automatic pistols have the stock much below the level of the barrel, which consequently is above the hand. This makes shooting more difficult; you are apt to cant the weapon to one side, and the recoil is more severe on your wrist. A man who holds a pistol properly does not need a big stock, even if he has a big hand. ”

“ And still any time I go to a place where I think there is danger, I invariably take my pistol with me, for it is a pistol and not a revolver. I always call it a revolver, but, in reality, it is a pistol, and of a very old-fashioned make, too, with this ramrod and the trigger so hard to pull that I have to use my 426other hand as well. I am not a bad shot, for a woman, provided that I may take my time, but this is not very easy when one wants to fire at a robber. ”

“ This practice can be made still more difficult if as many man targets as your magazine holds cartridges are placed at various distances; hit all of them in the shortest time, taking them, not in rotation, but at random.
At “go” you turn and in so doing unbutton the holster flap, drawing the pistol, taking off the safety, and firing—all in one movement.
Occasionally, instead of firing all the shots, slip in the safety, and return the pistol to the holster after one shot. ”

“ In 1917 an automatic pistol won it, till then it was shot for only with revolvers.
I am sure the better the police can shoot, the less apt they will be to draw a pistol unnecessarily; [Pg 318] they are confident in their skill; it is the man who is given a pistol for the first time who looses off and hits the wrong man.
I think it is a mistake to arm police with a .38 or .32 pistol instead of a full-size .44 or .45 military one. A policeman has often to face great odds and a mob will not, like enemy soldiers in battle, spare him when down. A mob will kick him to death. ”

“ The holder pulls against the front of the stock to avoid its being taken from his hand, he does not squeeze the back of it. The result is that the pistol cannot be discharged, except by a voluntary effort. He can pull the trigger as much as he likes, but as long as he does not grip, but merely uses the front of the stock as a handle to pull against his adversary, the pistol is safe against accidental discharge. ”

“ Many of the foreign target and duelling pistols of recent manufacture are made breech-loading, and loaded in the manner described. The expert pistol-shot is well aware that he can secure a great advantage by preparing ammunition for certain purposes in a manner different from the way the manufacturer makes it for the trade; but this point will be described later.
With the exception of the pistols alluded to, all modern American pistols and revolvers take the metallic cartridges, which are produced in enormous quantities and variety of styles in this country. ”

“ And yet no gentleman here thinks it necessary to have a pistol on his body when he goes to his business place or to his club or to a ball. The few individuals who do so will scarcely be considered gentlemen any longer when the fact of their constantly carrying arms becomes known. Why, then, is it done by so many persons belonging to the best society in the South? Is it not really done in constant expectation of some insult, or some dispute, or some collision—in one word, some “difficulty” which may oblige or induce the carrier of the pistol to make use of it by killing somebody? ”

“ They are most unnecessarily encumbered with a heavy, unwieldy firearm (the carbine) , when a neat and exceedingly effective weapon—a repeating pistol, or revolver—could be loaded with five rounds of ball-cartridge before going into action, and when fairly engaged and surrounded with enemies on every side, the revolver could be drawn from a holster-pipe, and every round it contained fired at such close quarters as to render it a matter of certainty that a man would be killed at every shot. ”

“ They are made with one barrel and a magazine, on the principle of the repeating rifle, thus doing away with the escape of gas that takes place in revolvers between the chamber and the barrel.
Automatic pistols are so constructed that the force of the recoil is utilized to open the breech, extract the empty case, cock the pistol, reload the chamber with the top cartridge from the magazine, and close the breech, leaving the pistol ready to fire on again pressing the trigger. ”

“ The defect of cocking and firing by the same action of the trigger must have been important; for new patents were, I believe, taken to cover both plans, and they now manufacture what is termed a double-action pistol, which acts either by cocking with the finger, or by the trigger, as of old. The important improvement in the durability and soundness of Dean and Adams’s pistol over Colt’s is, that the barrel, the lock-frame, and top bar, are all forged out of one piece of iron; thus, the cylinders revolve in a frame which cannot undergo any displacement. ”

“ A “mitrailleuse” pistol has also been constructed by the Braendlin Armoury Co., Ltd., on the “pepper-box” principle, with fixed barrels, either four or six, arranged in pairs, and a special striking mechanism, in which there is no revolving chamber and no escape of gas at the breech. It gives stronger shooting than a revolver, but is more cumbrous, and has the serious defect that the shock of the discharge of one barrel sometimes prematurely fires a second barrel. ”

“ Stock is of some dark, hard Oriental wood, probably olive, and is covered with fine silver-wire inlay. All mountings are of silver, beautifully sculptured and engraved and bear curious Turkish hallmarks. As the ramrods for these pistols were carried about the neck to facilitate loading on horseback, they were frequently made without ramrods attached. This pistol, like the following one, is furnished with a dummy or imitation rod. English proof-marks on barrel. Gold breech-band. In the best of possible condition and a really beautiful specimen. From the Austin collection. ”

“ Jo to the time of reaching Placerville or Sacramento the pistol should never be absent from a man’s right side—remember, it is handier there than on the other—nor the bowie-knife from his left. Contingencies with Indians and others may happen, when the difference of a second saves life: the revolver should therefore be carried with its butt to the fore, and when drawn it should not be leveled as in target practice, but directed toward the object by means of the right fore finger laid flat along the cylinder while the medius draws the trigger. ”

“ And yet, we make absolutely no effort to keep deadly weapons out of dangerous hands. We do attempt to forbid their concealment. Practically this attempt is a failure and, in effect, we permit men to carry deadly weapons which may be successfully concealed until the very moment they are brought into use.
A great deal of the lurid literature has grown up around the pistol. The cowboy with his gun play has always been an attractive character in fiction. No doubt there is a time in the pioneer life of a community when there seems to be some excuse for the use of the revolver. ”