REVOLVERS!

[JimT]

"I have carried a revolver; lots of us do, but they are the most innocent things in the world."
- Mark Twain, interview, Adelaide South Australian Register, 10/14/1895

In "Roughing It" he wrote about the revolver ...
"I was armed to the teeth with a pitiful little Smith & Wesson's seven-shooter, which carried a ball like a homopathic pill, and it took the whole seven to make a dose for an adult. But I thought it was grand. It appeared to me to be a dangerous weapon. It had only one fault--you could not hit anything with it. One of our 'conductors' practiced awhile on a cow with it, and as long as she stood still and behaved herself she was safe; but as soon as she went to moving about, and he got to shooting at other things, she came to grief."
- Mark Twain, Roughing It

The revolver then was the S&W Model 1 .22 ... it was a .22 blackpowder "short". The Long Rifle had not yet been invented so the designation "Short" was not yet in use. The Long Rifle was invented in 1887 by the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company. Mark Twain's adventures in "Roughing It" took place in the 1860's.

Today's version of that early S&W ia the Model 317.

317.jpg

These are a really nice little light gun.

[Bill in Oregon]

Mr. Clemens also had some insightful comments on the pepperbox of the day ...
Once upon a time I wanted the Kit Gun wth 3-inch barrel awful bad.