Double Trouble...

What's this, you ask? Why it's none other than an Allen & Thurber double barreled, single trigger pistol, made in the 1850's. According to Flayderman, only an estimated 500 - 1000 were made...
...at the Ethan Allen factory in my favorite little city, Worcester, MA.

This one is marked "Allen & Thurber Worcester" on the top between the barrels. It's a percussion weapon, meaning that it was made with technologies post-flintlock but pre-cartridge (if you don't know what that means, use Wikipedia or go read something geared more toward your intellect). Even though it's double barreled, it would have been loaded with balls (like a pistol) rather than shot (like a shotgun).

The caliber is .36, and the rifled barrels are 6" long. The hammers can fire one at a time, or together, depending upon the order in which they are cocked. The so-called bag handle is surprisingly comfortable to hold, and the "ergonomics" of this piece seem well-designed. Modern manufacturers of small pistols would do well to take another look at some of these old sidearms.

This would have been a nice, concealable handgun for use as a primary self-defense weapon, or as a last-ditch back-up.


By the way, I friggin' love Worcester, MA. I know this is probably anathema to those who actually live there, but Worcester has seen me through some of my best and worst of times. Someday, I'll regale you about the time I drunkenly improvised some "free jazz" on a borrowed guitar at "open mic" night at the now-defunct Zara jazz club. But not tonight...