Lancaster pistol

Lancaster pistol
Lancaster pistol
	Break action Lancaster pistol on display at theRoyal Armouries MuseuminLeeds
Type	Multi-barrel pistol
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
Wars	Anglo-Zulu War; First Boer War; Mahdist War; Second Boer War; World War I
Production history
Designer	Charles W. Lancasterand Henry Thorn
Designed	c. 1860
Produced	mid to late 19th century
Specifications
Cartridge	.38 S&W; .450 Adams; .455 Webley; .577 Snider
Calibre	.380 inch; .450 inch; .455 inch; .577 inch
Barrels	2 or 4
Action	Break-action,double action only, revolving striker
Feed system	one cartridge in each barrel

TheLancaster pistolwas a multi-barrelled (2 or 4 barrels)handgunproduced in England in the mid to late 19th century,^[1]chambered in a variety of centrefire pistol calibres—chiefly.38 S&W,.450 Adams,.455 Webley,and.577 inch.^[2]The designer, London gunsmithCharles Lancaster,began his career in 1847 as an apprentice to his father, Charles Sr. During the 1850s he inventedoval borerifling and the gas check bullet.^[3]

Description

It was a modernised version of thepepper-boxpistol popular in the early-mid 19th century.^[4]Unlike these earlier guns which hadpercussion capignition, the Lancaster was chambered for the more modern brass cartridges.^[3]The unique oval rifling also enabled it to fire.410 shotgun shells.^[5]It had a faster rate of fire than the standard-issueAdams revolverand was often fitted with aTranter-type trigger to overcome the heavy pull of the revolving striker.^[4]

Sometimes classified as ahowdah pistol,the Lancaster pistol enjoyed popularity with British officers in India and Africa during theBritish Rajowing to its faster rate of fire and increased reliability over contemporary revolvers.^[6]It was highly prized by hunters and explorers for close range defense againstbig gamesuch astigersorcape buffalo.^[7]Unlike revolvers, it does not leak gas when fired since there is no gap between the chamber and the barrel.^[8]One rare variant, made for theMaharajah of Rewaas a hunting weapon, took the form of afour barreled rifle.^[9]

Use in Sudan

Its ammunition had greater stopping power than the contemporaryBeaumont–AdamsandColt Navyrevolvers, making it ideal for colonial warfare. When facing charging tribesmen like theZulusorAnsar(the so-called SudaneseDervishes), more modern ammunition tended to go straight through the enemy who would keep going. What was needed was a heavy lead bullet that would lodge in their body and bring them down.^[4]One famous user was the photographer and film maker^[10]Lieutenant Colonel John M. B. Stanford,^[11]who killed a fanaticalassegai-wielding SudaneseAnsarwith a Lancaster pistol while working as awar correspondentat theBattle of Omdurman.^[12]

It was eventually displaced by the variousWebley revolversin the late 19th century as revolvers became more reliable and faster to reload, thus removing many of the advantages of the multi-barrel design. A few were still in use as late asWorld War I,and they were well known to be solidly built and easy to maintain.

In popular culture

A double-barreled Lancaster howdah pistol with a unique spring-loaded blade is the weapon of thebig-game hunterRemington inThe Ghost and the Darkness.

The Lancaster pistol exists as the Howdah Pistol in the 2016 video gameBattlefield 1.

The Lancaster pistol appears in the 2024 video gameNightingaleby Inflexion Games.

References

^John Henry Walsh, The Modern Sportsman's Gun and Rifle: Including Game and Wildfowl Guns, Sporting and Match Rifles, and Revolvers (Cox, London, 1884) p. 439
^Maze, Robert J.Howdah to High Power.Tucson, Arizona: Excalibur Publications, 2002.ISBN 1-880677-17-2.^{[page needed]}
^^a ^bLancaster pistols
^^a ^b ^cMyatt, F,19th century firearms(London 1989)^{[page needed]}
^Howard L. Blackmore (2000).Hunting Weapons: From the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century.Courier Corporation. p. 312.ISBN 978-0-486-40961-0.
^Lancaster pistol at national army museum
^Wayne Webster (2016).Weird and Unusual Weapons: Firearms and their Development.BookRix. p. 8.ISBN 978-3-7396-5084-5.
^1883 Lancaster pepperbox at the Royal Armories
^Oval bores
^Victorian cinema
^"Cambridge library archive".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-11-09.Retrieved2018-05-10.
^Mark Simner (2017).The Sirdar and the Khalifa: Kitchener's Reconquest of Sudan 1896-98.Fonthill Media. p. 206.

[1] John Henry Walsh, The Modern Sportsman's Gun and Rifle: Including Game and Wildfowl Guns, Sporting and Match Rifles, and Revolvers (Cox, London, 1884) p. 439

[2] Maze, Robert J.Howdah to High Power.Tucson, Arizona: Excalibur Publications, 2002.ISBN 1-880677-17-2.^{[page needed]}

[Lancaster_pistols-3] Lancaster pistols

[myatt-4] Myatt, F,19th century firearms(London 1989)^{[page needed]}

[5] Howard L. Blackmore (2000).Hunting Weapons: From the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century.Courier Corporation. p. 312.ISBN 978-0-486-40961-0.

[6] Lancaster pistol at national army museum

[7] Wayne Webster (2016).Weird and Unusual Weapons: Firearms and their Development.BookRix. p. 8.ISBN 978-3-7396-5084-5.

[8] 1883 Lancaster pepperbox at the Royal Armories

[9] Oval bores

[10] Victorian cinema

[11] "Cambridge library archive".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-11-09.Retrieved2018-05-10.

[12] Mark Simner (2017).The Sirdar and the Khalifa: Kitchener's Reconquest of Sudan 1896-98.Fonthill Media. p. 206.

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