, ca. 1815–20.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession Number: 96.5.36, .149 They are fitted with spurs on the trigger guard to improve the shooter's grip. They also have octagonal barrels, often seen on later duelling pistols. The barrels are long and are calibre Until the mid-18th century, duels were typically fought with swords. In London, the first recorded pistol duel was in 1711, but the use of pistols was unusual until the 1760s. Thereafter they quickly took over, and after 1785 it was rare for a sword duel to be fought in London. From about 1770 onwards, gunsmiths were producing pistols expressly made for duelling. Unless precisely tuned, standard flintlock pistols can have a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger and actually firing the projectile. Purpose-built duelling pistols have various improvements to make them more reliable and accurate. Duelling pistols have long and heavy
barrels—the added weight helps steady aim and reduce recoil. The barrels on earlier guns were cylindrical, while later ones tended to be octagonal. The barrels were given a
blued or browned finish to reduce glare. Spurs on the trigger guards began appearing after around 1805 to provide a rest for the middle finger to improve the shooter's grip. All component parts were manufactured, hand-finished, and then adjusted with great care and precision, which made duelling pistols much more costly than standard firearms of the period. Special care was taken when
moulding the lead bullets to ensure that there were no voids which would affect accuracy. In some duels, the pistols were carefully and identically loaded, and each duellist was offered his choice of the indistinguishable loaded pistols; conversely, sometimes the duellists would use their own pistols and so the weapons would be different. As duels were generally fought at short distances which were paced out, typically , between stationary opponents, extreme accuracy was not required. The bullets loaded in them could weigh in .52 caliber, or more in larger calibers. Injuries from such bullets, coupled with the primitive state of
emergency medicine at the time when duels were commonplace, meant that pistol duels frequently resulted in fatalities, often some hours or days afterwards. Most English pistols had smooth bores, though some had
scratch rifling, a subtle form of
rifling which was difficult to see with the naked eye. Pistols with rifled barrels spin-stabilize the shot when it is fired, resulting in much improved accuracy. As a result, duelling pistols with rifled barrels were considered unsporting by many, although there was no unfairness so long as the pistols were identical. For some in the eighteenth century, duelling with less-accurate, smooth-bore weapons was preferred as they viewed it as allowing the judgement of God to take a role in deciding the outcome of the encounter. A pair of rifled pistols often included a small hammer or mallet as an accessory; they used slightly oversized bullets and a hammer was needed to drive the bullet down the barrel when loading. Pairs of duelling pistols can be easily confused with
holster pistols and travelling pistols. These types are similar to duelling pistols in that they were muzzle-loading weapons that were sometimes expensively made and sold in matched, cased pairs with a set of accessories. Travelling pistols, also known as
overcoat pistols, were intended for use by travellers to protect themselves from
highwaymen and
footpads; unlike duelling pistols, they were commonly rifled. Holster pistols, or
horse pistols were used on horseback and carried in pairs in a leather holster slung across a horse's saddle. Although best suited for military use, they were often owned by civilians. Although their purpose was combat or self-defense, holster pistols were used on occasion to fight duels. ==Use==