Guns
Posted by John W on June 10, 1998 at 18:53:54:
In response to Concealed weapons, written by Michele V. on June 09, 1998 at 07:47:08
Before internally-primed cartridges were in use concealing firearms was not really practical, either a cap or powder priming would be difficult to keep in place in a concealed holster, and would not be likely to survive a quick draw even if the sidehammer did not catch! There was a market for small pistols combined with other items such as knives or swordsticks however, and a small central-cock pistol could be carried in a pocket or even in a muff,but I take it you have something more elaborate in mind. Bear in mind also that a concealeable blackpowder pistol, necessarily with a short barrel, would have a very low muzzle velocity. Unless the bullet was very big it would have little stopping power. The Derringer was the first small pistol of any real use except to make a bang!
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