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Aaron Newcomer -
  • Ammunition Articles
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  • Pinfire Ammo for Sale
  • Pinfire Guns for Sale
Ammunition Articles
Gun Articles
Books and Documents Articles
Pinfire Ammo for Sale
Pinfire Guns for Sale

Articles about Ammunition

Explore a range of articles dedicated to historical and rare ammunition, delving into their fascinating backgrounds, development, and impact on firearm technology. Learn about various cartridge types, such as pinfire, cupfire, Robert, Perrin and other early ammunition systems that played pivotal roles in the evolution of modern firearms.

Ammunition

From Paris to Buenos Aires: The Hardware Trading Company of François and Jean Dellazoppa

January 13, 2023 by Aaron Newcomer 4 Comments
Dellazoppa Delivery Vehicle

Dellazoppa Frères was a hardware trading company that was founded in Paris, France in 1871 by François and Jean Dellazoppa. The company operated in Paris, Buenos Aires, and Brussels during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and produced a range of hardware and related products including metallic ammunition such as pinfire cartridges.

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Reading time: 3 min
Ammunition, Documents

The Gun Wad Bible: The Third Edition of Christopher Saur’s Hausbieble and its Role in the Revolutionary War

December 11, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments

The Hausbieble, also known as the “House Bible,” was a collection of three German-language Bibles printed in America by the Saur family in the 1740s-1770s. As the first European-language Bibles to be printed in America, the Hausbieble was important in helping German immigrants preserve their cultural heritage in the New World. Additionally, it played a role in the American Revolutionary War, as British soldiers used its pages to make paper cartridges.

Christopher Saur's Printshop Occupied by British Soldiers - Original AI-assisted Artwork by Aaron Newcomer
Christopher Saur’s Printshop Occupied by British Soldiers – Original AI-assisted Artwork by Aaron Newcomer
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Reading time: 6 min
Ammunition, Guns

What is the pinfire system? And why was it invented?

December 2, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 1 Comment
Pinfire guns and Cartridges

What is the pinfire system?

The pinfire system was a type of cartridge and firing mechanism for firearms that was invented by a French gunsmith named Casimir Lefaucheux in the early 19th century. The main feature of the system was the use of a small pin that protruded from the side of the cartridge and was struck by the gun’s hammer to ignite the gunpowder and fire the bullet. This was a significant advancement over earlier firearms, which used loose gunpowder and a separate ignition device such as a flintlock or percussion cap.

Lefaucheux was a well-known gunsmith and inventor who was credited with several innovations in firearms technology, and the pinfire system was one of his most notable contributions. He patented the system in France in 1835, and it was subsequently adopted by gun manufacturers in other countries.

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Reading time: 4 min
Ammunition

Schleber’s Long-Range, Thread-Wound Shot Cartridge Cases

November 13, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
Schleber's Long-Range, Thread-Wound Shot Cartridge Cases

H. H. Schleber & Co of Rochester, New York was a manufacturer of thread-wound shot concentrators that would allow hunters to shoot ducks, geese, turkeys, foxes and other animals that were difficult to get close to, from further away.

There were many shot concentrator patents around the world and they all aimed to keep the loose shot, fired from a shotgun, together longer before it started spreading out. Modern guns and even some guns during this time period, use a method called choke-boring that tapers down the muzzle-end of the barrel to achieve similar results.

Schleber’s patented, thread-wound shot cartridges were designed to hold lead shot inside two tin half cylinders that were held together by thread that would unwind in flight after it was fired. After the thread completely unwound it would release the shot. They were wrapped with varying length of thread that corresponded to how many yards away the target was that you wanted to shoot. Some early reviews of the system noted that the hunter would need to be good at judging the distance needed in order to correctly choose the right cartridge; especially since at closer distances it would be a large solid projectile until it fully unwound.

Scientific American - 5 April 1879
Scientific American – 5 April 1879
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Reading time: 5 min
Ammunition

Henri Barthe & The Lark Mirror; with a Taste of Ortolan Bunting

October 30, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
L’ALOUETTE CHASSÉE AU MIROIR
Manufacture française d’armes et cycles de Saint-Etienne 1905 Catalog

A lark mirror, known in French as le miroir à alouettes, was a tool to help hunters entice small songbirds to their location so they could be harvested.

Dictionnaire François by Pierre Richelet
Dictionnaire François by Pierre Richelet
Dictionnaire François by Pierre Richelet

In 1680, an early French dictionary referred to these mirrors for catching larks and ortolans. It defined them as:

A piece of wood carved into an arch where there are several notches which small mirrors are glued & which is supported by a peg in the middle of which there is a hole to put a string in order to make this mirror turn, that is driven into the ground between two sheets to catch ortolans & mainly larks.

Lark and Ortolan
Lark and Ortolan

Ortolan Bunting

These small songbirds were considered to be a delicacy and were cooked and eaten whole, in one large bite; head, bones and all. Ortolans were the most coveted and eating them has been represented in paintings and media over the centuries as a gluttonous, almost shameful act. Modern, French preparation of this delicacy would make the use of ortolans that were captured alive and blinded or kept in dark cages where they were force fed until they were twice their normal size. They were then drowned and roasted in Armagnac, a type of Brandy from the Armagnac region in southwest France.

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Reading time: 5 min
Ammunition, Documents

A 19th Century Color Lithograph of a Hunting Scene Advertising Eley’s Sporting Ammunition

August 7, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
A 19th Century Color Lithograph of a Hunting Scene Advertising Eley's Sporting Ammunition

I have not come across many advertising posters like this that mention pinfire cartridges so I jumped at the chance to buy this one when it came up for auction. This early color lithograph was printed between 1885 and 1889 and was likely provided to various gunmakers and ironmongers who sold Eley cartridges to the public.

It would have functioned as both an in-store advertisement as well as a quick reference guide to the various types of cartridges and accessories that Eley manufactured, as shown when turning it over.

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Reading time: 2 min
Ammunition

Loading and Reloading Pinfire Shotshells; and an Original Patent Manuscript by Casimir Lefaucheux

July 30, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
Casimir Lefaucheux Patent Manuscript

Here is a patent manuscript by Casimir Lefaucheux. It is French patent number 8955 from 1850. It describes a reusable pinfire shotshell that has a base that unscrews to allow easy reloading. It also pictures a tool to extract the shell from the gun and unscrew it.

By 1850, pinfire shotshells had been on the market for 15 years and people were familiar with these new breech-loading guns. But they were still more expensive than buying a percussion cap and powder used by a muzzle-loading, percussion gun. Shotshells that were able to be reloaded was one solution to this issue. And many manufacturers made metallic shotshells that could be reloaded many times.

Metallic Pinfire Shotshells
Metal Pinfire Shotshells from Author’s Collection
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Reading time: 6 min
Ammunition

Pinfire Fireworks Cartridges

July 3, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 1 Comment
Pinfire Fireworks Cartridges

Here is a selection of pinfire cartridges that were loaded with a fireworks charge. These pinfire fireworks cartridges allowed anyone with a pinfire shotgun, pistol, rifle or cane gun to shoot fireworks into the air.

SFM Catalog Showing Pinfire Fireworks Cartridges
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Reading time: 1 min
Ammunition, United States

American-made, reloadable, patented, pinfire shotshell by William H. Smith of Charlestown, Massachusetts

April 20, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 3 Comments

This is one of the very few American-made pinfire shotshells. It was patented on 8 February 1870 by William H. Smith of Charlestown, Massachusetts.

The main idea for his improvement was around the safety issues of loading a shotshell that was already primed. He designed the system to allow it to be loaded ahead of time and then primed later when one was ready to use it.

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Reading time: 2 min
Ammunition, Documents

W. & C. Eley, Eley Bros, and Eley Brothers Limited Advertising Sheets

March 22, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer No Comments

W. & C. Eley

Born into a family of silversmiths and cartridge manufacturers, William Thomas Eley and Charles Eley took over their father’s business upon his death in 1841 and founded W. & C. Eley. They continued making percussion caps and their patented wire cartridges which the company had become well known for.

W. & C. Eley Advertising Sheet from the collection of Aaron Newcomer
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Reading time: 4 min
Ammunition, Editor's choice, Guns

Italian Military Pinfire Cartridges and Revolvers

February 20, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
Italian military pinfire revolver and cartridges

Kingdom of Sardinia

The story of Italian pinfire guns and cartridges begins in the Kingdom of Sardinia with an order of 5000 Lefaucheux model 1854 revolvers. This first order was placed in 1859 and delivered in 1861 and these guns were referred to as the Corto model. They were pretty similar to the typical Lefaucheux model 1854 revolver except they had a 21% shorter barrel around 123mm long. At the time that these revolvers were ordered and delivered it is thought that the arsenals had not yet started producing their own pinfire cartridges yet so cartridges were likely imported from France or elsewhere as well.

Sardinian Lefaucheux Corto Revolver
Sardinian Corto model from the collection of GVM and published in the book, Eugène Gabriel Lefaucheux Nineteenth-Century Arms Manufacturer in Paris and Liège.
Sardinian Lefaucheux Corto Revolver
Sardinian Corto model from the collection of GVM

The Kingdom of Italy

Shortly after these revolvers were ordered, the Kingdom of Italy was formed and a new order was made for another 12,000 revolvers.

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Reading time: 6 min
Ammunition, Editor's choice, United States

Hundreds of Gévelot pinfire cartridges excavated at Civil War site in Rolla, Missouri

January 22, 2022 by Aaron Newcomer 6 Comments
Pinfire cartridges

During the American Civil War, Rolla, Missouri was a heavily garrisoned town that played a strategic role protecting the terminus of the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad. This section of the railroad branched off the main Pacific Railroad of Missouri 40 miles southwest of St. Louis in Pacific City. It began construction in 1855 and the first train pulled into Rolla on December 22, 1860.

Laying track. Date and location uncertain. Western Historical Manuscripts Collection; Missouri S&T
Laying track. Date and location uncertain. Western Historical Manuscripts Collection; Missouri S&T
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Reading time: 11 min
Ammunition

An experimental horizontal pinfire cartridge by Johann Jacob Peter of Stuttgart, Germany

December 25, 2021 by Aaron Newcomer No Comments

This article will take a look at a horizontal pinfire cartridge that has been unknown for quite some time. For awhile after I acquired it I could not figure out much about its history. But after discussing it with Fede Graziano we were able to get a little better understanding of it. This is the 14.5×48/49R Horizontal Pinfire cartridge and it was manufactured for or by Johann Jacob Peter of Stuttgart, Germany.

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Reading time: 3 min
Ammunition, Guns

Norwegian Military Pinfire Revolvers and Cartridges

May 31, 2021 by Aaron Newcomer 2 Comments
Lefaucheux Norwegian Pinfire Revolver

On 12 September 1859, a Norwegian military commission recommend contracting with Eugène Lefaucheux to acquire some of his model 1854 pinfire revolvers to begin updating their service handguns. In October 1859 they ordered 800 revolvers and 120,000 pinfire cartridges for the Norwegian Navy with a delivery date of summer 1860.

There are various sources that claim differing serial number ranges of this first order, but The Lefaucheux Family Archives has matched up original purchase orders and invoices to determine that they are around the LF14597 – LF15936 range. Some of this is detailed in the excellent book on the subject, La Production des Modeles d’Eugène Lefaucheux by Guillaume Van Mastrigt.

Norwegian Model 59

This first order of revolvers followed the below design as shown in this example from the Norwegian Armed Forces Museum where they have it labeled as an example of the Norwegian Navy Model 1859. It is thought that there are no special markings that specifically indicate which guns Lefaucheux made specifically went to fulfill this first order.

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Reading time: 5 min
Ammunition

Pinfire Cartridge Boxes for Sale from the Chris C. Curtis Collection

March 2, 2021 by Aaron Newcomer No Comments

In 1983, the collective knowledge of pinfire firearms was greatly increased when Chris C. Curtis and Gene P. Smith wrote The Pinfire System, a new book detailing pinfire guns and ammunition from around the world.

The book featured images of guns, patents, advertising, cartridges and more. It was the first book that focused on this often neglected topic that played such an important role in the history of firearms. This book has been out of print for many years and often shows up on the collectors market for a couple hundred dollars. This book has more of a focus on the cartridges than his next book, with many pages dedicated to showing pinfire cartridges and even identifying headstamps.

The Pinfire System by Chris Curtis
The Pinfire System by Chris Curtis
Page from The Pinfire System
Page from The Pinfire System
Page from The Pinfire System

Chris Curtis recently sent me the last of his pinfire cartridge box collection. Some of the boxes went to my collection and the rest are offered for sale here. I will notate the ones that appeared in his books.

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Reading time: 2 min
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About me

Hello, my name is Aaron Newcomer. I am a collector and researcher of early 19th century breech-loading firearms systems, with a particular focus on the work of Jean Samuel Pauly and Casimir Lefaucheux. I collect cartridges and documents related to these types of firearms and conduct research on these topics, furthering my understanding and knowledge of these historical firearms and their place in the evolution of firearms technology. My collection and research reflect my dedication to preserving and understanding the history and technical innovations of these early firearms systems.

Read more about me and where my work has been published.

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Featured Articles

Italian Military Pinfire Cartridges and Revolvers

Italian Military Pinfire Cartridges and Revolvers

Hundreds of Gévelot pinfire cartridges excavated at Civil War site in Rolla, Missouri

Hundreds of Gévelot pinfire cartridges excavated at Civil War site in Rolla, Missouri

Casimir Lefaucheux’s first pistol and the death of Pauly’s Cartridge System

Casimir Lefaucheux’s first pistol and the death of Pauly’s Cartridge System

The Relationship Between the United States and Pinfire Cartridges

The Relationship Between the United States and Pinfire Cartridges

August G. Genez – A Practical Gunmaker

August G. Genez – A Practical Gunmaker

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The Pinfire Page

The Pinfire Page was a recurring column I had in each issue of the bimonthly publication, The International Ammunition Journal. This compilation book combines together the first 5 years of my column, showcasing my research, images and other documents related to the pinfire system which was the first major breakthrough in modern ammunition.

Recent Posts

  • Dogs and Doubles: Exploring 19th Century Portraits of People Posing with their Pinfire Shotguns and Canine Companions
  • From Paris to Buenos Aires: The Hardware Trading Company of François and Jean Dellazoppa
  • The Gun Wad Bible: The Third Edition of Christopher Saur’s Hausbieble and its Role in the Revolutionary War
  • What is the pinfire system? And why was it invented?
  • Schleber’s Long-Range, Thread-Wound Shot Cartridge Cases

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Recent Posts

Dogs and Doubles: Exploring 19th Century Portraits of People Posing with their Pinfire Shotguns and Canine Companions

Dogs and Doubles: Exploring 19th Century Portraits of People Posing with their Pinfire Shotguns and Canine Companions

February 11, 2023
From Paris to Buenos Aires: The Hardware Trading Company of François and Jean Dellazoppa

From Paris to Buenos Aires: The Hardware Trading Company of François and Jean Dellazoppa

January 13, 2023

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