Aaron Newcomer -
  • Ammunition Articles
  • Gun Articles
  • Books and Documents Articles
  • Pinfire Ammo for Sale
  • Pinfire Guns for Sale
  • fr_FRFrançais
Items (0)
$0
Aaron Newcomer -
  • Ammunition Articles
  • Gun Articles
  • Books and Documents Articles
  • Pinfire Ammo for Sale
  • Pinfire Guns for Sale
Ammunition Articles
Gun Articles
Books and Documents Articles
Pinfire Ammo for Sale
Pinfire Guns for Sale

Editor’s Choice

As the author and editor, I’ve taken the time to carefully curate a selection of my personal favorite articles, stories, and features that I’ve written over time. This diverse assortment showcases the very best of my work in terms of content, creativity, and relevance across various topics and genres. Whether you’re looking for thought-provoking opinions, engaging narratives, or groundbreaking discoveries, you’ve come to the right place. I invite you to dive in and explore my handpicked collection of outstanding content that I’m particularly proud of. Enjoy the read!

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.

Continue reading
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 10 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
Continue reading
Reading time: 11 min
Editor's choice, Guns, Lefaucheux

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

September 11, 2021 by Aaron Newcomer 3 Comments
Casimir Lefaucheux Percussion Pistol
Casimir Lefaucheux Percussion Pistol; from Author’s collection

This story of Casimir Lefaucheux’s first pistol begins in 1812 when Jean Samuel Pauly patented an early breech-loading pistol and rifle. Casimir Lefaucheux worked as an apprentice for Pauly and began to learn the trade of gun making. There are conflicting opinions on exactly what this first gun was at this time as some modern researchers believe that much of the historical documentation is incorrect, or at least conflates Pauly’s inventions and the inventions of Pauly’s successor, Henri Roux.

What is known for sure is that around this time, Pauly created and patented a system of igniting a charge by the use of rapidly compressed air with a fire piston. It is described in a report by a French military commission on 16 July 1812. This design was also patented in England in 1814 and 1816, where Pauly moved after selling his Parisian shop.

What is contested is if this was also the design of his French patent from 22 September 1812. The patent application does not go into details on how the mechanism works and the accompanying drawings show images of a rifle and pistol that use a percussion piston to hit an early percussion compound. Early reviews of the system and the official recorded record of the patent all speak of this percussion mechanism.

Pauly Pistol
Image of Pauly Pistol assigned to the 1812 Pauly Patent by the French National Institute of Industrial Property

Some researchers think it is unlikely that Pauly created the compressed air version for the military review in 1812 and then pivoted to the percussion version in his civilian model later in 1812 and then back to the compressed air version that he patented in London.

Continue reading
Reading time: 6 min
Ammunition, Editor's choice

The Relationship Between the United States and Pinfire Cartridges

February 13, 2021 by Aaron Newcomer 1 Comment
Civil War Soldier with Pinfire Revolver
Adam Rabel of the 116th Ohio Infantry Regiment with a Lefaucheux model 1854 pinfire revolver in his belt

The pinfire system was one of the most important developments in the history of firearms. It mainstreamed the concept of fully-self-contained cartridges and breech-loading firearms.

An early 1/9 plate melainotype of a Union Cavalry Sergeant from the American Civil War. He has a Lefaucheux model 1854 Pinfire Revolver on the table next to him.
Charles Allen from Gouverneur, St Lawrence, New York holding a pinfire revolver. He was a private in the 1st New York Light Artillery.

Pinfire guns were made and used everywhere and were adopted at some point by nearly every major military in the world. Read through the following articles to learn about the relationship between the United States and pinfire.

Continue reading
Reading time: 1 min
Ammunition, Editor's choice, Guns

August G. Genez – A Practical Gunmaker

August 4, 2020 by Aaron Newcomer 3 Comments
A. G. Genez, Gunsmith Shop Closeup

August G. Genez was a French Gunsmith that began working in the gun-making industry at 13 years old in France. He died on June 17, 1897 and over the course of his career he had many successful ventures as well as challenging tragedies.

This article will take a look at A. G. Genez, the gunsmith in New York, New York, and follow his 50-year career in the gun industry. We will also take a look at his successors of his gun shop, Vincent Bissig and John P. Dannefelser.

When August Genez was 21 years old he immigrated to the United States from a port in Le Havre, France on a ship named Charles Thompson and arrived in New York, New York on April 10, 1854. The ship log of his emigration record states he was from Germany but his naturalization record, son’s wedding record, various ads of his, son’s various census records all state his birthplace was France.

A. G. Genez shops map

The Genez name first shows up in the 1856/1857 issue of Trow’s New York City Directory where Genez August is listed as a gunsmith at 221 William. The same year the Wilson’s business directory of New-York City list him under the Gunsmiths section with his business at 221 William.

Continue reading
Reading time: 12 min
Editor's choice, Guns, Lefaucheux

Early Lefaucheux Advertisements from the Journal Des Débats

April 17, 2020 by Aaron Newcomer No Comments
Journal Des Débats

The Journal Des Débats was an influential French newspaper that was published between 1789 and 1944. The following advertisements by Maison Lefaucheux were in various issues.

MAISON LEFAUCHEUX, 10, r. de la Bourse.
FUSILS à systéme et à percussion ordinaire.
MÉDAILLES aux Expositions de 1834 et 1839

The earliest one I have acquired so far was from the August 18, 1839 issue. It lists the address of House Lefaucheux as 10, rue de la Bourse, This is the address that Casimir Lefaucheux worked out of from 1834 – 1835 and then again from 1845 to 1850.

Continue reading
Reading time: 3 min
Ammunition, Editor's choice, Guns, United States

W. Tibbals Revolving Firearms Patent Model

March 21, 2020 by Aaron Newcomer 3 Comments
William Tibbals Pinfire Patent Drawing

One of the most famous American ammunition manufacturers was William Tibbals. William Tibbals was the partner in the company, Crittenden & Tibbals, who supplied mostof the rimfire ammunition during the American Civil War.

Part of what made Crittenden & Tibbals so successful was their early relationship with firearms manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson. Crittenden & Tibbals made some of the earliest rimfire cartridges for Smith & Wesson, Bacon, Spencer and others. I am sure that within their relationship with Smith & Wesson they were well aware with the issues of many people trying to circumvent or infringe on the Rollin White patent that Smith & Wesson had an exclusive license to use; especially since some of their main customers were some of the infringing companies.

The Rollin White patent was actually a fairly ridiculous pistol design that would have unlikely ever been made. However, there was one interesting feature about it that Daniel B. Wesson was interested in; the concept of a revolver with a bored-through cylinder which allowed metallic cartridges to be inserted from the back. This concept already existed with pinfire revolvers in Europe but it was the first time the concept was patented in the United States. So from 1855, through the next 17 years, anyone who wanted to make a revolver that loaded from the back had to go through Smith & Wesson.

During this time period there were a few notable designs that effectively evaded this patent such as the cupfire, teatfire and thuer cartridges. The revolvers that used these were designed to be loaded from the front of the cylinder and have a back that was not bored all the way through.

Continue reading
Reading time: 2 min
Editor's choice, Guns

John Hall’s Patent Automatic Clock Gun

February 27, 2020 by Aaron Newcomer 4 Comments
Hall's Automatic Clock Gun

John H. Hall was a US gunsmith that invented a hybrid breechloading and muzzleloading rifle adopted by the US Army in 1819. But that’s not who we will be talking about. The John Hall we will be talking about was an auto mechanic. He lived in the small town of Wigton, Cumberland (present day Cumbria), in northwest England. Wigton had a population of 4000 people and was designated as a market town which gave it the legal right to hold a weekly market. In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were a lot of agricultural activities in the surrounding area including notable berry farms, livestock farms and many other types of farms.

John Hall owned a company called Station Road Works which was located on Station Road and very likely was the building that is the current Station Road Garage.

Business where John Hall made his Clock Guns

Hall was officially appointed by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland and the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland as an automobile repairer for the Wigton area and listed in their Automobile Handbook. He referred to himself as an engineer and was likely a machinist that could fabricate parts needed to repair automobiles.

Patent Drawing of Hall's Automatic Clock Gun

On April 2nd in the year 1902, Hall applied for a British patent for “Improvements in Apparatus for Scaring Purposes, Especially Applicable for Scaring Birds.” This application for his clock gun mentions existing similar devices that used a clock and had hands attached to levers that would release weights. He mentioned that these devices were very expensive and prone to wear over time. He also mention the dangers of how each barrel was loaded at the muzzle and detonated by a cap and that sometimes people would steal or mess with the powder since everything was loaded from the outside.

Continue reading
Reading time: 3 min

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Language

  • fr_FRFrançais
  • en_USEnglish

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.

Site Sections

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

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

Search

Recent Posts

  • From Collector to Founder: How My Passion for Historical Documents Led to an AI Startup
  • The Birth of British Pinfire: Eley’s Entry into Breechloading Cartridges
  • Eugène Pertuiset and His Revolutionary Explosive Ammunition: A Tale of Innovation in the Age of Black Powder
  • John Krider: Philadelphia’s Renowned Gunsmith and Innovator
  • The Curious Case of the Cartridge Machines: A 19th Century Patent Puzzle

Information

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Shipping & Delivery Policy
  • Refund and Returns Policy
  • Contact Us

Social

  • Mastodon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • CasimirLefaucheux.com

Recent Posts

From Collector to Founder: How My Passion for Historical Documents Led to an AI Startup

From Collector to Founder: How My Passion for Historical Documents Led to an AI Startup

March 14, 2025
The Birth of British Pinfire: Eley’s Entry into Breechloading Cartridges

The Birth of British Pinfire: Eley’s Entry into Breechloading Cartridges

January 4, 2025

Categories

  • Ammunition
  • Documents
  • Editor's choice
  • Guns
  • Le Musée Lefaucheux
  • Lefaucheux
  • Technology
  • United States

© 2010 - 2022 All rights reserved. AaronNewcomer.com