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Not for me - imagine your hand if you had a 'ring' fire, ie: more than one went off. It did happen and that was when these guns were new, not 160 years old.

Interesting - lovely to look at & contemplate - however.

Since they have a wooden forend (& weighed up to or over 9 pounds), they would certainly be meant to be held on the forend with the 'off hand'.

These heavy Colts were also made in rifle calibres for the military & used in the Creole wars in Florida & which were meant/had to be held on the forend. They were popular due to the rate of fire compared to the ML's of the day, until they broke, that is. They were also very expensive compared to the other guns in the armory but - they were popular with soldiers willing to risk damage in order to be better protected during the 'fighting'. They would have spare cylinders, already loaded and capped - don't drop it as if a capped nipple strikes the ground, that chamber goes off - pointing upwards right at you or someone else.

At that time, there were also small, very short versions in .44, and .36 cap and ball calibres which did not have forends, were light weight and meant to be shot with hands cupped together. There are replicas of these available just a few decades ago - maybe still, by Pedersoli.

Some of the repeating, ie: revolving and harmonica guns, of that period, such as in those made by Billinhurst, having a lever that shoved the cylinder forward so the front of the chamber(outside coned) that was to be fired went into a rearward facing inside cone of the barrel's breech, thus helping to prevent the forward projected 'bits' and 'pieces' and flame of the load from striking your forearm and hand as well as reducing the chance of a ring-fires induced by loose loading?

I've been around and have been shooting cap and ball revolvers since the early 70's and have never seen a ring fire - with oversized lead balls (tight seal in the chambers) being used along with VERY tight caps. I expect with a shot charge, any flash-over (to the side cylinders) would have to come from the rear- so if tightly fitted caps were used, there might be no danger. HA! Any sparks(burning charcoal in the powder charge) could not pass the top wad, shot & over powder wad to get to the powder from the front, which is thought to happen in the handguns. I firmly believe ring-fires were started from the rear due to adjacent caps falling off the nipples presenting the possibility of a spark to enter the nipple of an adjacent or lower cylinder, setting it off. As rare 'situation' might be - it would surely make a mess of your hand & DID happen.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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