"richardson boot pistol"

[hangfiretx]

Anyone fire one of these? (.36 cal boot pistols) I've seen them listed recently in the shotgun news, etc for like 50$ from Southern Ohio Guns. They're .36 caliber with a screw off removable barrel I think, and listed as a backup piece used by mariners, etc around the civil war.

Wonder how much potency one would have? The earliest bp revolvers were .36 caliber weren't they? And then I believe that around the civil war they were found to be too light, and thus the 45 cal revolvers came out...

Anyway, wondering if anyone else has info, experience with these...

 

[Don]

I don't have one of the pistols you are refering to but I do have the Twister pistol. It is also .36 cal shooting a .350 dia. ball. With 15 grains of powder behind patch and ball I was able to penetrate 4 inches of wet news paper. It will also go through a 3/4 inch pine board without trouble. A real manstopper? No, but I wouldn't want to get shot with it.

Don

 

[wulf]

Usually those were underhammers..inexpensive to
make and very reliable..easy to make. I had a friend who made one using a coil spring. Worked well but he said it sounded like a screen door opening..36 cal is OK..any shot depends on where it hits..."aim big,,miss completely"

 

[renovato]

I've shot several boot pistols and derringers over the years. They're all a lot of fun, but for close range only. As for potency, a .36 isn't gonna hit that hard. About like a .22 LR I would guess. At the close range they're designed for, shot placement isn't that hard though.

I saw those listed at SOG too. Was tempted to buy one, but chickened out. I'd like to know their quality first.