Dueling Pistol Identity Help

[Beretta-Skeet]

Hey folks,

Helping out a friend who's a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. Since I have no knowledge of firearms from this era I was hoping someone here could give me a hand. I work in the firearms industry, but the only muzzleloading knowledge I have is of new production models. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, this duel happened in 1833 just south west of Ottawa Canada to give a time frame.

The email he sent to me was the following:

"I was wondering if you can help me out with a story I'm doing for the Citizen about the Last Duel in Perth.

We would like to possibly recreate the event using the type of pistols they used, of which the originals are in a museum. The museum doesn't have any ID about the type of gun they are, so I wondered if you, or your colleagues could help ID them.

I have attached a pic and I think they are American Saw Handled Dueling Pistols. Are they are .60 caliber, smooth bore with single set triggers? Percussion, they are from 1833.

They are similar to British TJ Mortimer ones of that era, but seem closer to the American ones."

Unfortunately this is all the information he could give me. I wasn't there with him otherwise I would have noted the proof marks.

 

[mhb]

The identity of the maker should be discernible:
most such pistols were made by established makers and they marked their products with their name and, often, address - commonly on the top barrel flat and often on the lockplates also.
There is no obvious characteristic to permit attribution of the pistol as more likely American than British.
Further inspection of the pistols themselves is warranted.

mhb - Mike

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I cannot identify the maker of those pistols from the photo. They are generic saw handle dueling pistols, probably made during the percussion period rather than converted from flint. There is one clue as to where they were made, however. The barrel keys have the heads on the lock side, which was not the British practice. British pistols and sporting guns almost always have the barrel key entering from the sideplate side such that only the end of the key shows on the lock side. On quality guns, the keys were usually pinned so they cannot be removed from the stock and re-inserted from the wrong side. It may be that the pistols are American made.

dave

 

[Beretta-Skeet]

Not that this is much help, but here's another view of the pistols.

 

[galamb]

Gun building was alive in well in the London Ontario area during the time frame you note.

At the time it was considered "Western Canada" (Upper Canada West, more specifically).

One family (a couple uncles/nephews) working in the area (London and possibly Burlington) were the Soper's.

Philo Soper was the most prolific, but there are at least 3 other spanning a couple of generations who built a number of arms, most notably "target rifles".

Although not uncommon, the lock style and trigger guard of these particular pair of pistols were quite "typical" of the style they built with.

Now, I'm not suggesting that these are a product of Soper (one of them), but simply pointing out that this "furniture" was apparently readily available to the few Canadian gun builders that were active.

They may have come from the States or they could be a "product of Canada".

 

[dave_person]

Hi Graham,
Certainly, Canadian-made is a possibility and you would expect a very British style. One other thing, the twist barrels were almost certainly made in England. I do not believe any were made in the US, but I don't know about Canada. A local maker could easily have imported them from England.

dave