Le monde des armes à feu a une histoire fascinante, avec de nombreux rebondissements. L'une de ces époques passionnantes concerne les premiers pistolets fabriqués par Casimir Lefaucheux. Des découvertes récentes de certaines de ses armes rares ont suscité la curiosité quant à la relation entre Lefaucheux et un autre inventeur, Béatus Béringer. Dans cet article, nous examinerons l'histoire derrière ces deux inventeurs et les caractéristiques intrigantes de leurs premiers pistolets.

Une trouvaille chanceuse : les premiers pistolets à broche de Lefaucheux

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.

I recently picked up this pair of pinfire pistols designed by Casimir Lefaucheux. I had never seen examples quite like them before and was really excited to get them in. Casimir Lefaucheux was making pistols from the time he took over the Pauly company in 1827 as shown in our recent post on the topic. But these early pistols were much larger and bulkier. In 1833, Lefaucheux was issued a new patent for his fusil à charnière, or hinged gun.

He advertised and promoted the fact that these pistols and rifles were easier to use and safer and better in every way than his earlier Pauly guns, and especially better than other percussion guns of the day. They could shoot 500 rounds without cleaning or even wiping down which was unheard of for typical percussion guns that loaded from the muzzle. Lefaucheux also emphasized that they were easier to take apart and maintain by the average person.

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.

L'histoire du premier pistolet de Casimir Lefaucheux commence en 1812 lorsque Jean Samuel Pauly brevette un système de pistolet et de fusil à chargement par la culasse. Casimir Lefaucheux travaille alors comme apprenti pour Pauly et apprend l'art de la fabrication d'armes à feu. Il y a des opinions divergentes sur ce qu'était exactement cette première arme à feu, certains chercheurs modernes pensant que beaucoup de la documentation historique est incorrecte ou, du moins, mélange les inventions de Pauly et celles de son successeur, Henri Roux.

Ce qui est sûr, c'est qu'à cette époque, Pauly crée et brevette un système d'allumage d'une charge par l'utilisation d'air comprimé rapidement avec un piston à feu. Il est décrit dans un rapport d'une commission militaire française le 16 juillet 1812. Cette conception est également brevetée en Angleterre en 1814 et 1816, où Pauly déménage après avoir vendu sa boutique parisienne.

La question est de savoir si c'était aussi la conception de son brevet français du 22 septembre 1812. La demande de brevet n'entre pas dans les détails sur le fonctionnement du mécanisme, et les dessins accompagnant montrent des images d'un fusil et d'un pistolet utilisant un piston à percussion pour frapper un composé de percussion précoce. Les premières critiques du système et le registre officiel du brevet parlent tous de ce mécanisme à percussion.

Certains chercheurs pensent qu'il est peu probable que Pauly ait créé la version à air comprimé pour la revue militaire de 1812, puis qu'il soit passé à la version à percussion dans son modèle civil plus tard en 1812, puis qu'il soit revenu à la version à air comprimé qu'il a brevetée à Londres.

The Lefaucheux model 1859 carbine was a small carbine Eugène Lefaucheux made with hopes to gain military acceptance. It is a very simple design with few moving parts. It only weighs 4.5 pounds and has an overall length of 3 feet 4 inches.

There are multiple variations of this gun; some with a full metal frame, some with an automatic cartridge extractor, a percussion cap version, a double barrel version, pistols, and various bores.

This example is chambered for 12mm pinfire cartridges, has a manual extractor and a solid wood stock.

There are two levers on the gun. The one on the right is the cocking lever and also serves as the breechblock. When you raise it it opens the breech, allowing you to insert a new pinfire cartridge or remove a spent cartridge. It also cocks the extra-long hammer. The following video and image shows how this works.

Journal Des Armes Spéciales was an important French technical journal about arms and armament that was published monthly on the 25th of the month from 1834 – 1870. It was an offshoot of Journal Des Sicences Militaires which started in 1825 and ran through 1914.

In 1834, Journal Des Sicences Militaires ran this article introducing Journal Des Armes Spéciales. The article is amazingly intense, aggressive, rooted in French military pride and filled with the glories of warmongering.

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.

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.