Two parlour pistols

[copeab]

Parlour Pistols

The Colette gravity pistol (1855) and Guycot chain pistol (1878) were two low-powered, high-capacity caseless handguns on the 19th century. Like the Volcanic round, the ammo for both pistols placed their gunpowder and primer in a hollow depression in the base of the bullet.

Both were intended for indoor shooting and were fairly low-powered to make this marginally safe. Neither were popular and only small numbers were built.

A PC might own one as a target pistol or perhaps to deal with small rodents or birds. They are not very effective against people or most predatory animals.

Colette gravity pistol

This was a 20 shot .40-cal handgun with a tubular magazine over the barrel. It was loaded via a gate at the front and the rounds dropped In base first. The firer pulled the hammer back to half cock and tilted the muzzle up; this pulled a round out of the magazine. Pulling the hammer back to full cock sealed the rear of the magazine and chambered the round.

Guycot chain pistol

This was a 40-shot 6.5mm handgun that used a chain inside the receiver that held a round in each link. Loading was done via a sliding gate on the top and the rounds were inserted nose first. Pulling the trigger rotated the chain to the next round and dropped the hammer.

A rifle version was also built, which had a 80 round capacity.

Game stats

Colette gravity pistol, SV Bonus +0, Range 3”, Hands Rq'd 1, Pluck Mod +1, Cost 2
Guycot chain pistol, SV Bonus +0, Range 3”, Hands Rq'd 1, Pluck Mod  +1, Cost 2
Guycot chain rifle, SV Bonus +0, Range 6”, Hands Rq'd 2, Pluck Mod  +1, Cost 3

Links

Colette
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/ria-colette-gravity-pistol/

Guycot
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/guycot-40-shot-chain-pistol-video/

[Craig]

Fascinating stuff - thanks