Winchesters and Colts are the major focus at gun collecting organizations in Texas and the American West. If you can associate a gun with a Texas Ranger or a cowboy then it will likely fit right in! European guns and pinfire in particular have often been overlooked by collecting circles in the United States. John Wayne never used one so its appeal never really grew much here.

So I figured if I were going to introduce a pinfire display at one of these shows I had better make it about something unique enough that would really stand out!

I have had the reprint of this book for some time and always thought it was a neat resource giving examples of various cartridges tested at the Frankford Arsenal. It is especially pertinent to me as there were experiments on a horizontal pinfire cartridge. The hope was that the front ignition would give higher pressure and a higher velocity which it did. However it was very complex and had many other issues in their trial.

This memoranda was put together in 1873 by Major Treadwell who had been deeply involved with ammunition and ordnance at Frankford Arsenal for awhile. He was mentioned here in the article on the American Civil War pinfire cartridge designed and manufactured by Christian Sharps as he is who asked Sharps to make a new pinfire cartridge for the Army. Treadwell introduces the memoranda as follows:

I recently took a trip to Germany and France with my wife and I took the opportunity to trace down some Lefaucheux and pinfire related things!

The trip started with a visit to the European Cartridge Research Association international show in Aerzen, Germany where I was able to meet some friends who I had previously only conversed with online and others who I had not seen for a couple years due to COVID. We stayed at a fancy castle and really enjoyed the pristine landscape and atmosphere of the area.

I was able to pick up some great cartridges for my collection including a 13x52R Pinfire carbine cartridge made by the Ottoman Empire. It dates to around the 1880s and was probably made in the Tophane Factory in Constantinople. The headstamp is a tughra (a calligraphic signature of the Ottoman Sultans). This particular one should be of “His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful” who reigned over the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 – 27 April 1909. It is possible it was made during the time of the prior Sultan as well.

I also picked up a 28g cartridge made for a Czech military pistol made by Anton Vincenz Lebeda that was issued to cavalry officers as well as a 4g Eley pinfire shotshell.

But the highlight would have to be a Pichereau-patented percussion nipple used on his Pauly system rifles. These were also used on the first rifles Lefaucheux made after buying the company from Pichereau.