Scottish all-metal pistol

[dukewellington]

I would be coll if you could get one in a kit version.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Ok... here we go again. Actually my daughter did it for me. This is my copy of the Highlander pistol that supposedly fired the "shot heard 'round the world".
My daughter programs the vcr too... :redface:

 

[Moloch]

Thats for sure a fine pistol. :bow:

As much as I like fine wood on a gun, stocks made of steel and especially brass look gorgeous. Cant wait to lay my hands on my new scottish brass-stock psitol. :shocked2:

What I really like is that the scottish pistols are so different compared to others. There are severel points making them very unique, and the belt hook seems to be a very good solution to carry it comfortably. Great pistols.

@ DoubleDeuce 1

The frizzen looks pristine, have you ever fired that pistol? What caliber is the barrel?

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I have never fired the pistol. It hasn't been touched by an ungloved hand since I received it back around 1990. It is a museum copy produced by America Remembers, I think. I'd have to check the paperwork.
I forgot the caliber also. I'd have to check again.
The whole story surrounding the original pistol is really interesting. If I remember correctly, British Major Pitcairn fired the first shot of the American Revolution with the original pistol. That was the shot heard around the world.
Sometime later during the conflict, he was unhorsed. His horse ran over to the American side of the battlefield. The pistol was in the pommel holster. The horse I think, and the pistol were given to an aide (forget the name) of General Washington. The aide carried the pistol throughout the war. That is about how I recall it. The incident is laid out in the paperwork that came with the pistol.

 

[Zonie]

Hot Damn! You finally got some pictures posted! :hatsoff: (Even if you did have a little help). :grin:

That is a beautiful pistol you own.
The only sad thing is that it is too fancy (and expensive) to shoot.

I guess the only solution is for you to go out and buy a shootable replica so that a little wear and tear won't damage it.

 

[David Teague]

No... it's a shooter in the fact that the one copied looked just like it.

Maybe today's shooters wouldn't want to shoot such a pretty pistol, but the non-military pistols were all engraved like this one.

You know... the ones they throw at the other side after pulling the trigger during the "Highland Charge.

Cheers,

DT

 

[Moloch]

Hi,

anyone ever chronoed' a load of a .58 pistol? I wonder how fast a 290 grain .58 ball leaves the muzzle with 20 and 30 grain of 3FG. I guess with 30 grain the ball makes something in the range of ~ 700 fp/s, maybe a bit more. :hmm:

I am just thinking which pistol I would take with me for self defence if I had to. :grin:
Either one of my kentuckys .45's with a strong load of 35 grain 3FG, or my .50 flintlock with 40 grain of swiss 2FG out of a 7'' barrel.
Sure the .58 ball would make a nasty hole, but its lack of speed is obvious.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I expect that .58 caliber ball at 700 fps or so will get the job done very nicely.

 

[Moloch]

Hmm, probably... :hmm: You must understand as a rifleman 700 fp/s is quiet slow, its hard to believe that at 700fp/s the ball does much damage without seeing any evidence.

Once I shot a .45 ball with 30 grain of FFFG out of my 6'' kentucky pistol at a wooden railroad tie at about 60° and it made a .50 deep dent and bounced off. The .45 ball was surely traveling well over 800 fps. :shocked2: I expected at least one or two inches of penetration.

 

[Tom Carr]

Culloden battlefield reenactment action for the National Trust. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR_ltIlAeYA&mode=related&search=

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

A railroad tie is seasoned and treated hardwood. The human body is mush by comparison. You were also firing a ball of about half the weight of a .58 caliber ball and at an angle that would pretty much guarantee a ricochet. That .58 ball is in a completely different level of lethality from a .45 ball.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

beautiful pistols.
a little off the topic but the 'big men with big swords (and axes)' were the only fighters that stopped the Roman Legions. the Romans couldn't match the blue-painted men in close combat.
Hadrian's Wall was built to slow the Scots attack if they came. the only defensive wall the Romans built anywhere.

 

[Moloch]

Hadrian's Wall was built to slow the Scots attack if they came. the only defensive wall the Romans built anywhere.

Not true, here in Austria the romans built a wall along the ''Donau'', a big river going through my country. They have built a lot of forts and ramparts along the whole river preventig the barbarians and celts from crossing the river to the new roman land. The wall and ramparts appear at a length of about 500 kilometers.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I'm corrected, I'm not a historian but first I've heard of it. evidently it wasn't very effective in protecting them as they were eventually over run from that area.
Hadrian's wall was effective or at least the Romans withdrew from England before the Scots came across.

 

[Moloch]

@ Blizzard,

the wall you mentioned is the ''Hadrianswall'', protecting britannia from the scotts.

Here in Austria its called the ''Donau-Limes''. Donau is the river, ''Limes'' means something like wall in latin. The wall goes straight through Austria and deep into germany. There are several other walls, I think overall the romans built about ten ramparts in similiar sizes.

As far as I know the Donau-Limes rampart was in service till 679 a.d

A railroad tie is seasoned and treated hardwood. The human body is mush by comparison.

Yes, I was afraid that the .45 ball bounces off the wood into my direction firing it at 90°, but I still expected a bit more than a dent firing at 60°. I' think Ill try it again with the .58 with 35 grain of 3FG and a .45 with about the same load for comparison, at softer wood and 90° angle. :hmm:

 

[renovato]

Velocity is an odd thing. It takes higher velocity to penetrate harder materials, but momentum is what penetrates softer ones. That's why heavier projectiles penetrate flesh deeper than lighter ones travelling faster. You won't be able to learn much about penetration in flesh by shooting harder materials such as wood. The 290 grain ball at 700 fps is pretty close to the slightly faster, but lighter (230 grain) .45 ACP. I'd expect similar performance in flesh. I doubt it would have the penetration to stop a big animal bent on doing you harm, but I have no doubt that it'd put down a smaller, thinner skinned one, 2 legged or 4.

 

[jaxenro]

"a little off the topic but the 'big men with big swords (and axes)' were the only fighters that stopped the Roman Legions"

What about the Parthians? Those swarms of archers and the desert completely destroyed a few legions if memory serves.

 

[TFoley]

I'm corrected, I'm not a historian but first I've heard of it. evidently it wasn't very effective in protecting them as they were eventually over run from that area.
Hadrian's wall was effective or at least the Romans withdrew from England before the Scots came across.

Quite correct. Hadrian's Wall was not there to protect Roman Britannia from the Scots, but the Picts. The indigenous population of the big island were Celts, and the Picts, a northern tribe of Brythonic Celts, got their name from the Latin 'Gens Pictata' or 'tattoed people' for obvious reasons.

The Scots, actually a tribe from Celtic Ireland, did not arrive on the scene for over 200 years after the Romans left Britannia Major. When the Scots arrived they brought their goidelic Q-Celtci Gaelic language with them - the rest of Britannia spoke versions of P-Celtic - nowadays called Welsh, Cornish or Breton. Ancient Irish Gaelic, now called simply Gaelic, can be heard all over the western isles of Scotland, where it is the everyday language of the inhabitants of the Hebrides and outer islands.

So why did the Scots for leave Ireland?

Because of the ever-increasing numbers and ferocity of the raids carried out by Scandinavians from Norway, southern Sweden and Denmark....one of who was my distant ancestor, and the ancestor of anyone called Foley [old Irish - fohglaidhe - plunderer/raider].

Just thort you like to know. :wink:

Teordal Ui Foghlaidhe [tac]

 

[poordevil]

I thought it was the Scots who left Ireland to go to Scotland

 

[Zonie]

All Ah knows is Scot's sure make gud paper towels. :grin: