The howdah pistol was a large-calibre handgun, often with two or four barrels, used in Africa and India from the beginning of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century during the British Empire era. It was intended for defence against lions, tigers and other dangerous animals that might be encountered in remote areas. Multi-barreled breech-loading designs were later favoured over contemporary revolvers, due to their higher velocity and faster reloading potential. [1]
The term "howdah pistol" comes from the howdah , a large platform mounted on the back of an elephant. Hunters, particularly in British Raj India, used howdahs as a platform for hunting, and needed large-calibre side-arms for protection against close quarters animal attacks. [2] The practice of hunting from the howdah basket on top of an Asian elephant was first made popular by the East India Company during the 1790s. The early howdah pistols were flintlock designs of similar specification to the military issue musket pistol, and it was not until about 60 years later that percussion models in single or double barrel configuration were seen. By the 1890s and early 1900s cartridge-firing and fully rifled howdah pistols were standard.
The first breech-loading howdah pistols were little more than sawn-off rifles, [2] typically in .577 Snider [3] or .577/450 Martini–Henry calibre. This was practical in that the huntsman could use the same ammunition in rifle and pistol, as well as being a powerful round. [4] Later English firearms makers manufactured specially-designed howdah pistols [3] in both rifle calibres and standard pistol calibres such as .455 Webley and .476 Enfield. [2] As a result, the term "howdah pistol" is often applied to a number of English multi-barrelled handguns including the Lancaster pistol (available in a variety of calibres from .380" to .577"), [5] and various .577 calibre revolvers produced in England and Europe for a brief time in the mid-late 19th century. [6] A howdah pistol with its closed breech shot at a substantially higher velocity than a revolver of the same calibre because a revolver suffers from gas leakage at the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. [4]
Although howdah pistols were originally for emergency defence against dangerous animals in Africa and India, British officers later carried them for personal protection and even battlefield use. [3] By the late 19th century, top-break revolvers in more practical calibres (such as .455 Webley) had become widespread, [3] removing much of the traditional market for howdah pistols.
Modern reproductions are available from Italian gun maker Pedersoli in .577 caliber, .50 caliber, and 20 bore with percussion ignition
Howdah pistols have featured in popular culture such as the film The Ghost and the Darkness , the TV series Westworld and the video game Battlefield 1 which features a quadruple-barreled variant.
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
A semi-automatic pistol is a handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridges in its chamber after every shot fired. Only one round of ammunition is fired each time the trigger is pulled, as the pistol's fire control group disconnects the trigger mechanism from the firing pin/striker until the trigger has been released and reset.
.32 ACP is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pistol. It was introduced in 1899 by Fabrique Nationale, and is also known as the 7.65×17mmSR Browning or 7.65 mm Browning Short.
The Webley Revolver was, in various designations, a standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and countries of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, from 1887 to 1970.
Webley & Scott is an arms manufacturer founded in Birmingham, England. Webley produced handguns and long guns from 1834 to 1979, when the company ceased to manufacture firearms and instead turned its attention to producing air pistols and air rifles. In 2010 Webley & Scott restarted the production of shotguns for commercial sale.
The .38 S&W, also commonly known as .38 S&W Short, 9×20mmR, .38 Colt NP , or .38/200, is a revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1877. Versions of the cartridge were the standard revolver cartridges of the British military from 1922 to 1963. Though similar in name, it is not interchangeable with the later .38 Special due to a different case shape and slightly larger bullet diameter.
.455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI. It is also known as ".455 Eley" and ".455 Colt".
A pistol sword is a sword with a pistol or revolver attached, usually alongside the blade. It differs from a rifle with a bayonet attached, in that the weapon is designed primarily for use as a sword, and the firearm component is typically considered a secondary weapon designed to be an addition to the blade, rather than the sword being a secondary addition to the pistol. In addition, the two components of these weapons typically cannot be separated, unlike most bayonets mounted on rifles.
The Enfield Revolver was a self-extracting British handgun designed and manufactured at the government-owned Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, initially in the .476 calibre.
The term express was first applied to hunting rifles and ammunition beginning in the mid-19th century, to indicate a rifle or ammunition capable of higher than typical velocities. The early express cartridges used a heavy charge of black powder to propel a lightweight, often hollow point bullet, at high velocities to maximize point blank range. Later the express cartridges were loaded with nitrocellulose-based gunpowder, leading to the Nitro Express cartridges, the first of which was the .450 Nitro Express.
A service pistol, also known as a personal weapon or an ordnance weapon, is any handgun issued to regular military personnel or law enforcement officers. Typically, service pistols are revolvers or semi-automatic pistols issued to officers, non-commissioned officers, and rear-echelon support personnel for self-defense, though service pistols may also be issued to special forces as a backup for their primary weapons. Pistols are not typically issued to front-line infantry. Before firearms were commonplace, officers and non-commissioned officers typically carried swords.
An antique firearm is a term used to describe a firearm that was designed and manufactured prior to the beginning of the 20th century. Although the exact definition of what constitutes an "antique firearm" varies between countries, the advent of smokeless powder or the start of the Boer War are often used as cut-off dates. Antique firearms are usually collected because of their historical interest and/or their monetary value.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. Handguns have shorter effective ranges compared to long guns, and are much harder to shoot accurately. While most early handguns are single-shot pistols, the two most common types of handguns used in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other handguns such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.
The following are terms related to firearms and ammunition topics.
The Lancaster pistol was a multi-barrelled handgun produced in England in the mid-late 19th century, chambered in a variety of centrefire pistol calibres—chiefly .38 S&W, .450 Adams, .455 Webley, and .577 inch. The designer, London gunsmith Charles Lancaster, began his career in 1847 as an apprentice to his father, Charles Sr. During the 1850s he invented oval bore rifling and the gas check bullet.
The Colt New Service is a large frame, large caliber, double-action revolver made by Colt from 1898 until 1941. Made in various calibers, the .45 Colt version with a 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the Model 1909.
The .476 Enfield, also known as the .476 Eley, .476 Revolver, and occasionally .455/476, is a British centrefire black powder revolver cartridge. The Enfield name derives from the location of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, the armoury where British military small arms were produced, while Eley was a British commercial brand. Used in the Enfield Mk II revolver, the Mk III variant was introduced by the British Army in 1881, supplanting the earlier .476 Enfield Mark I and II cartridges, which in turn had replaced the .450 Adams cartridges, all of which also used black powder propellant.
The .450 Adams was a British black powder centrefire revolver cartridge, initially used in converted Beaumont–Adams revolvers, in the late 1860s. Officially designated .450 Boxer Mk I, and also known variously as the .450 Revolver, .450 Colt, .450 Short, .450 Corto, and .450 Mark III, and in America as the .45 Webley, it was the British Army's first centrefire revolver round.
A pistoleer is a mounted soldier trained to use a pistol, or more generally anyone armed with such a weapon. It is derived from pistolier, a French word for an expert marksman.
A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm that is capable of being fired repeatedly before having to be manually reloaded with new ammunition into the firearm.