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""" The Howdah 20Ga Double-Barrel Flintlock Pistol saw prominence in the American frontier of the 1860s and 1870s."""""... what a joke,,, a FINTLOCK in 1860???? That would be VERY RARE!!!! After reading that statement I couldnt go on,,,,,,

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Actually....

The "howdah" in the West is more or less mythical in any time period but the use of flintlocks, especially by Indians was not. Percussion in that period was in general use but some still preferred the old system which, like percussion later, died hard.

Also...and this crowds the "howdah" concept a bit....the US military was issuing big bore single shot pistols in large (for the time) numbers before the Civil War and those guns remained in use by many into the cartridge period. And then 5-Finger-Discount take-homes and surplus broomouts of Civil War percussion revolvers kept them in quantity and in use for long into the cartridge period.

Chapel's GUNS OF THE OLD WEST is quite fascinating and speaks quite a bit to this topic. Really if you think about it, it's no different than today. For example, there are many who prefer double shotguns and...heavens...even rifles for solid utilitarian reasons even still (maybe a few even on this forum!!) but why when a Benelli M2 is available?

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The last sentence because a shotgun is about balance and pointability, not a lump of metal spraying lots of shots in the hope of hitting something. Also of course for some countries like this one where stupid govts don't permit semi autos.

Howdahs by their very name are not Wild West guns. A howdah is an elephants saddle. They are very British and very much came from India. I don't think that author mentioned India once? I mentioned this inthinkmin the opening post, where I said the author should read some history. Double barrelled pistols in smaller calibres, such as gentlemen's coach pistols might have existed. A second barrel in the age of single barrels make sense for very close personal defence. "Remington's" u/O pistolmin the "Maneaters of Tsavo" wasca coach double barrelled pistol. No elephants and tigers in the "West".

That book "Guns of the Wild West" sounds interesting.

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Yeah to all that. That's the point. A howdah is not a Western gun obviously but keeping old types makes sense now as it did in the mid even late 1800's, especially among Indians who could trade for flint and use the same powder for priming they used for the charge itself. I've read, cannot verify that some guns had their charge holes reamed out so a slap on the barrel would toss enough powder into the pan no separate action of charging it was necessary. Plus lots of folks kept a gun around but had no particular tactical concerns (whether they should have is another story. And extras were as now kept around for sport or backup.) My great grandfather went west in the c. 1870's and my grandfather was captured by Lakotah warriors not long after the Ghost Dance.

The book is excellent.

I've wanted a howdah pistol (preferably smoothbore) for years. Maybe in the future...

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