French 7mm Pinfire Revolver

[eric_2902]

Guys, just bought this for reasonable...never messed with one but looked neat. It was sold to me as a French 7mm Pinfire but after some research I'm not sure. Few questions:

1) Does anyone know exactly what it is? Country? Manufacturer? Year?

2) Ive seen some reloading kits for pinfires online for a couple hundred bucks...more than I paid for the pistol. Any ideas on perhaps a less expensive setup or something homemade?

3) Casting...anyone ever casted for one before? Recommended mold?

Thanks

Eric

[NickSS]

It looks like a pin fire to me as to who made it I could not say as I am no expert on them. I do know that they used a metalic case with black powder and the cartridge was fired by the hammer hitting a pin which came out of the case at a 90 degree angle and fitted into that little slot that you see at the rear of the cylinder. Most were rimless. You could probably make cases by turning them on a lathe then drilling a hole for the pin. Use either a brass or steel rod of the right diameter to fit the slot. To load put a percussion can inside the case open end up and slide your pin down into the cap, add black powder and bullet and you have one round ready to go. To me it is way too much work for very little bang. I would just keep the pistol as an interesting conversation piece.

[lathesmith]

I agree with Nick, a pinfire revolver is way more trouble than it's worth to load for. Just enjoy it as an interesting Civil-War era conversation piece, and marvel at the creativity it took to come up with the design.

I believe France was big on Pinfires, and a few Confederate Cavalry units used these at one time. It was more or less a transitional design in the in-between stages of cap and ball to rimfire and, later, centerfire cartridge, and another creative way to attempt circumvention of the Rolin-White bored through chamber patent.

lathesmith

[Combat Diver]

I do not see any proof marks on the revolver. I did have access to one pinfire revolver back in the late 80's in my team room in Germany. That one was about .32 cal and with a folding trigger also. Lots of Belgium proofs on that one. I should have brought it home (ATF ruling as an antique, but the Panzerfaust would have been a no go) as they have an interesting place in the development of arms.