"howdah pistol" vs. "officer's pistol"?

[DutchmanDick]

I've read quite a few people's opinions on the internet saying "there were no such things as muzzle-loading howdah pistols; real howdah pistols all fired cartridges, and the muzzle-loaders were really 'officer's pistols'." Is there any truth to this? Or are muzzle-loading howdah pistols really and truly PC?

 

[LeMat1856]

.
.. dec 21 / 11:05


sorry to say that i don't remember where i got these, but they sure look like muzzleloaders to me and iirc were dated circa 1840....

howdah 1

howdah 2

i do remember the article saying that these were originally 100% blued, but as time went by, that has faded to zero... additionally, i saw a neet demonstration from an online site that showed a breech loader with brass cartridges and they were huge...any other information, i defer to wikipedia (look up 'howdah pistol') and or other sites that evaluate ml firearms... if we're lucky, someone will have a copy of the flydermans (sp) antique firearms book.

good luck,
:hatsoff: ~d~

 

[JV Puleo]

A howda is the little enclosure, perched on the back of an elephant, that the shooter sits in when tiger hunting in India. The tigers were baited and the hunter was supposed to shoot them from the elephant. If he missed, it was not unknown for the tiger to literally jump onto the elephant and the huge bore pistol was there to make certain the hunter didn't serve as the tiger's lunch.

Since this type of hunting long predates the advent of breech loaders, I'd say that the term "howda pistol" probably does also.

 

[Zoar]

That is true about the term Howdah---"A howdah, or houdah, also known as Hathi Howdah, is an elephant mount, a carriage which is positioned on the back of an elephant, or occasionally some other animal, used most often in the past to carry wealthy people or for use in hunting or warfare. It was also a symbol of wealth for the owner, and as a result was decorated with expensive gems."

The misconception is often that howdah means double barreled pistol; it does not. From my research it appears there were many double barreled muzzleloaders, both flintlock and percussion and there was a certain double barrel percussion type that most recently got the label "howdah pistol" and those are the common ones in reproduction NOW. But that is not to say they would be the only ones that were used as Howdah pistols.

 

[TFoley]

That is true about the term Howdah---"A howdah, or houdah, also known as Hathi Howdah, is an elephant mount, a carriage which is positioned on the back of an elephant, or occasionally some other animal, used most often in the past to carry wealthy people or for use in hunting or warfare. It was also a symbol of wealth for the owner, and as a result was decorated with expensive gems."

The misconception is often that howdah means double barreled pistol; it does not. From my research it appears there were many double barreled muzzleloaders, both flintlock and percussion and there was a certain double barrel percussion type that most recently got the label "howdah pistol" and those are the common ones in reproduction NOW. But that is not to say they would be the only ones that were used as Howdah pistols.

AAMOI - the Lancaster Howdah pistol was a four barrel weapon with two pairs of superimposed rifled barrels. See also my post on the other howdah pistol thread about why they were called howdah pistols.

tac
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund

 

[DutchmanDick]

W.W. Greener (of shotgun fame) called the double-barrelled type "horse pistols", and the Lancaster 4-barrel type "miltrailleuse pistols", in his book The Gun and Its Development.