Im curious when it comes to flint pistols. Would they be carried charged and primed but in half cock? Or just charged? In my mind the pistol is there as an immediate back up to the rifle, so it would need to be ready at a moments notice. However im not sure how safe that would be given that its stuffed in a belt or sash?
How were they carried?
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They'd a been carried ready at the half cock notch. Use a leather frizzen stall if it worries you. It slips about the frizzen and takes form of a small mitten for it. Keeps the flint from making fire obviously. It is PC the Brits used them on the Bess.
Black Hand
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I've also seen holsters that were carried on horses. I suspect pistols were more common in established communities, where the carrying of a full-sized firearm would be more of a nuisance.
Frankly, I question their utility in the field. I'd rather have a good belt-ax than the extra weight of a pistol.
Frankly, I question their utility in the field. I'd rather have a good belt-ax than the extra weight of a pistol.
Black Hand said:
Oh I dunno, most flint pistols were sizable enough to double as a club. So now you have a good club that can also spit fire and lead at the enemy before he gets close enough to need a club.
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I have a pistol that I've shot maybe a dozen times after which it has lived in a box for years. I'm not interested in the pistol shooting at Rendezvous and I have no desire to carry a pistol in the woods. I keep it because a beginner might want to shoot a pistol and find out for themselves that they are useless...
In the period, I can see a potential self-defense use of a pistol in a town or city, but outside the city limits, a rifle/smoothbore is far more useful.
In the period, I can see a potential self-defense use of a pistol in a town or city, but outside the city limits, a rifle/smoothbore is far more useful.
I think your mind is working a bit in hollywood mode instead of reality.Grizzly Bar said:
To begin with, the need for an immediate back-up shot to the rifle shot would only be in a situation of heightened alertness(right?),of knowledge of impending attack or need for preparedness.
That would not be a typical situation of daily life would it?
Point is,, How A Flint Pistol would be carried would depend on the situation at hand
There were a lot sold on the frontier, and some were known to even the mountain men, those happy few. HBC did send pistols west to its forts and trading factories.
Pistols were fitted with belt hooks.
Howsomever, I find it hard to carry one when walking. Stuffed in a belt on while walking in town or enjoying a tankard of your favorite adult beverage at the local watering hole might be reasonable. Afield I’m thinking stuck in a horse holster more likely, only to be stuffed in s belt should murder be in the air
Pistols were fitted with belt hooks.
Howsomever, I find it hard to carry one when walking. Stuffed in a belt on while walking in town or enjoying a tankard of your favorite adult beverage at the local watering hole might be reasonable. Afield I’m thinking stuck in a horse holster more likely, only to be stuffed in s belt should murder be in the air
Black Hand said:
Fair enough, I even agree with this sentiment. If I'm in the field I'd much rather have a long gun than a pistol.
Apparently for a seafaring man like Edward Teach aka Blackbeard they could be carried in a bandoleer, or on the braces. . :wink:
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People often forget the role of the "big 'ol knife" in these times, especially popular in the early to mid 19th century before the introduction of reliable repeating handguns.
For U.S. cavalry use, single-shot flintlock and later percussion pistols were carried from out nations inception until the late 1840s and were carried normally in pommel holsters, two per horse, or one for every two hooves. :grin:
The cavalry saber was considered the top weapon but the pistols offered some amount of (limited) standoff distance and "shock and awe" to the enemy before pulling steel from leather!
My Pedersoli produced Harper's Ferry horseman's pistol of army caliber (.54 smoothbore) with later "militia arsenal" type percussion conversion would have been carried in this manner. As for the civilian guns, belt hooks and in sashes were some ways but I'll admit my ignorance in that topic. My lovely Harper's Ferry:
For U.S. cavalry use, single-shot flintlock and later percussion pistols were carried from out nations inception until the late 1840s and were carried normally in pommel holsters, two per horse, or one for every two hooves. :grin:
The cavalry saber was considered the top weapon but the pistols offered some amount of (limited) standoff distance and "shock and awe" to the enemy before pulling steel from leather!
My Pedersoli produced Harper's Ferry horseman's pistol of army caliber (.54 smoothbore) with later "militia arsenal" type percussion conversion would have been carried in this manner. As for the civilian guns, belt hooks and in sashes were some ways but I'll admit my ignorance in that topic. My lovely Harper's Ferry:
There is also the use of the small sword by civilian gentlemen up into the first half of the 19th century.
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robinghewitt
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I don't think they cared. You cannot impose a 21st century mindset on these people. The past is a foreign land.
