Hell in a Handbasket

The picture above shows some non-functional replicas, not actual antiques. But the design is plain even so.

The idea was to load each individual barrel with powder and shot, and then each pull of the trigger would fire them in turn. There were three obvious problems with this design.

The first was that it was heavy. All those barrels made for a pretty massive block of metal perched atop your gun, even if it was mostly hollow space.

The second problem was that, no matter how small they tried to make it, this gun was still pretty big. I mean, look at all those barrels!

The third problem was that these guns had a nasty habit of chain firing when you really didn't expect it. This means that shooting one barrel might very well set the rest of them off. It wouldn't be that bad if the gun managed to hold together since your target would get six bullets smacking into it instead of one, though that would suck if there was more than one attacker. What would be really annoying is if the gun would come apart when all the barrels started to go boom. I really doubt that the explosion would tear off your whole hand, but no one would be all that happy if they lost a few fingers while trying to fend off a violent criminal attack.

Unintentionally dangerous guns aside, this pistol is obviously too big to qualify as a mouse gun. Compared to other guns that were around at the time, maybe an arguement could be made that this was as close as anyone got so we should include it on general principles. I am a curmudgeonly old coot, though, so we are going to pass on that notion.

It is extremely difficult to find vest pocket revolvers that date from the black powder era. It seems that the low pressure produced by that explosive, resulting in lower muzzle velocities, kept smaller calibers from being trusted as effective defensive weapons. Instead of revolvers launching small caliber bullets, fixed barrel derringers chambered for potent large bore rounds were used instead.

This changed a bit when smokeless powder came into it's own.

I wrote a post last week about the Velo Dog, which is a .22 centerfire cartridge that had a fair number of small European guns chambered for it. There seems to be a relatively substantial amount of published material to be found that discusses this round, though I have a hard time figuring out why.

The VD round was and is less potent that the .22 Long Rifle, which has become the most common round on the entire planet. There are both rifles and pistols chambered for the .22 LR, which makes it one of the most versatile non-shotgun rounds ever developed. It is perfectly suited for target practice, plinking, hunting small game and competition shooting. The .22 LR is sort of like one of those patent medicines from the end of the 19th Century in that it is good for whatever ails you, as long as the small bullet and low muzzle energy is kept firmly in mind.

The only use for the Velo Dog I have found is in the role of a last ditch defensive round, a role that the .22 LR is better suited. Maybe it is the appeal of a vest pocket pistol, maybe it is the great ergonomics that many of the guns chambered for this red headed stepchild of a round exhibited in their design. But whatever the reason, the Velo Dog certainly gets more attention than I think it deserves.

The Velo Dog aside, have found that it is difficult to locate any real mention of holdout revolvers. It is a mystery as to why since they certainly existed. There is a great deal of material to be found concerning small autoloaders, and I mention a few in my previous post about mouse guns. The main reason seems to be the attitude that autoloaders chambered for such small calibers are more effective defense tools because they can be reloaded quickly, which makes a certain amount of sense when one considers how many times you would have to shoot an attacker with a weak round to make them stop trying to take your life. Otherwise it seems that some shooters look at vest pocket autos as neat and cool while tiny revolvers are somehow less than manly.

The point is that I lost interest in discussing holdout revolvers when I realized that there isn't much historical data to be found. The best known modern manufacturer of tiny revolvers is the firm of North American Arms. Go ahead and check out their product line if you want to, I just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm.