Jacques Sigaud-Barnerias ran a business in Theirs, France (in the south, east of Lyon) making a variety of cutlery and associated products. Among his various table knives, pruning knives, corkscrews, and pock knives he also sold some pinfire revolver knives. The revolver element was made under contract by a shop in Liege Belgium, proofed by the Liege proof house, and send to Thiers where Sigaud-Barnerias added his markings (the “SB” in an oval), knife hardware, and side panels. The gun is a 6-shot Lefaucheux style pinfire with a double action only trigger, pretty typical for this type of contraption.
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Ian belittles these knife/pistol combos. And yes, the incarnation is rather silly. You can’t shoot the pistol until you fold out the knife, giving an attacker plenty of time to do his dirty work.
But from the perspective of the period, I don’t think a larger, fixed blade type of knife/pistol combo was completely worthless.
The time period when these were created was in the final days of when edged weapons were still the primary weapon in combat. Firearms were nice for a few opening shots, maybe thin out the ranks of the enemy a bit. But after that it was close with the enemy and finish the job with bayonet, sword, or knife.
I can see a pistol/knife combo, given a large fixed blade, would have been useful in situations like ship boardings, where fighting room was tight. This era passed quickly as artillery battles at greater distances and deadliness of a single round, replaced the need for the dangerous boarding tactic.
These are and were not serious combat tools; more, I suspect that they were there on the market for foolish people to purchase in the name of “protection”.
Kinda like the so-called “Apache” pistols sold to Parisian criminal elements. A modern equivalent would likely be along the lines of the pepper ball projector pistols popular in some parts of Europe.
I don’t think that there were any really serious users of the combination pistol/sword weapons; anyone who was familiar with actions like boarding a sailing ship man-o-war would have laughed in your face had you suggested that he arm himself with one of those abortions; the reduction in reach for the swordy-bit would have been lethal in an actual boarding action, and with there being only single-shot percussion available for the firearm component through most of that era, you’d have been far better served to carry a brace of regular sea-service pistols and a cutlass of standard length.
These pocket models were silly. But there were these sort of combos with a blade of normal fighting length. (https://search.brave.com/images?q=sword+pistol+combination)
I have not seen any reports, one way or another, about their use. So this is a research project for someone.
My guess is, the 5mm would be used to start the fight and the blade to finish it. Maybe. I see plenty of utility in a combination gun…just not this one.
Look at the thing. This was not a weapon for ship boarding. It was the kind of thing a naif would drop into his pocket under the illusion that the mere presence of a weapon makes it’s owner a badass
Kayak boarding at best. And the owner would have to possess confidence to the degree of absolute delusion.
“Bring a gun to a knife fight? A knife to a gun fight? Now, with the Sigaud-Barnerias, you can do both!”
It’s worth to note that little mechanical trinkets (pepper grinders, watches, lighters, handguns) we’re also a fashionable accessory, a bit of a status symbol, maybe comparable to today’s smartphones or yesterday’s Walkmen. These knife guns were not necessarily built for ultimate usefulness in combat.
Unfortunately the “smart phone” is not a fashionable accessory but a required item today. Unless you can live the dream of isolation in a secluded mountain shack.
I put them in a class as “19th Century fidget spinners”, and I suspect they were sold the same way.
The woodwork seems very nice. Mr. M didn’t mention the blank metal plate on the side — engravable with owner’s name? I rate this a rather handsome object.
Not so useless as a weapon as you might think — certainly the solid frame makes the butt-end a nice cosh. This knife seems meant for slashing rather than stabbing — it looks to lock open with a latch under the muzzle. As to the “weak” cartridge, I have seen many 19th-century illustrations of shootings, and pistols seem to have been used as contact weapons more often than you would think, with the head as the favored target. Even the threat of being punctured by the tiniest bullet might make an adversary back down. Perhaps some French expert in 19th-Century violence might inform us of actual incidents of use?
Sounds like the sort of weapon John Wilkes Booth might have wanted. He packed both derringer and dagger into the box at Ford’s Theater. Suboptimal armament for the times, but he attained his deplorable aim.
People commit suicide by gambling all on the threat of a weapon
Keep in mind that any perforating wound to the abdomen before WW1 was quite often deadly — there’s about an 80% chance of “gastrointestinal injury” in such cases. Practically any gunshot wound to the intestine was considered fatal. Presidents Garfield and McKinley were shot with small-caliber pistols and died days or weeks later, despite the best available medical care. Theodore Kocher performed the first successful repair of a gunshot wound to the stomach in 1884 — he was a strong proponent of aseptic practices, and there’s a reason he was the first surgeon to receive a Nobel Prize. Even by WW1 a mortality rate of 50% for abdominal wounds was considered a good result. So if it’s 1895 and someone points a little pinfire pistol at you, they probably won’t kill you immediately … but you might die after weeks of suffering.
Bring back rapiers and codpieces into fashion, robbing my Rolex in London “On guard” I haven’t got a Rolex, but in general… Maybe I just like the idea wearing tights, oooh. Still it would help though, eh; you’d go all Francis Drake on the mofo with the knife and he’d probably run off. And you could thrust your codpiece at him. Modern world eh, learnt nothing.
Ok, they could shoot you; but I mean if you went total Sir Francis Drake on them while wearing tights with a rapier; theres a good chance they might get killed by you before you realised you had been shot. And lets be honest thrusting your codpiece at a vanquished foe; would be a better a exit, once it occured to you, you had actually been shot. And you throw down your cloak for ladies to cross puddles etc. Modern world, tut.
I mean, think about it; demographic crisis, if you keep lobbing your cloak in front of birds trying to cross puddles – Thats going to increase bonking. Fashion see, has all kinds of practical every day results. And we have no decent fashions, unlike in the past; and that is why everything is fecked. Quite, so there are.
(I say puddles, I meant 16th c street effulent thrown from windows onto the street.) Progress! Drains! But in general, still wrk that; the thought that counts, dainty shoes as oppose your boots.
“(…)Modern world eh, learnt nothing.”
Please cite reliable source supporting this hypothesis.
Sebru shorty… Fn90 mag, sort of… Winchester handle to operate the (staple gun “Lock” beefed up by foregrip, which cycles also. Axe, pistol grip… 8 rnds. $499 C’mon you’d buy one.
“(…)Fn90 mag(…)8 rnds(…)”
Explain clearly why said magazine (which is relatively complicated due to inclusion of turntable) should be used to get said capacity, whilst it could be achieved using simpler forms of magazine, for example stick.
$299 no warranty; why would you want one? Your going to throw it at a door at some point… Aye it should still work, might – It wasn’t made, not to. 299 See now you want one.
Everything oversized, steel. Throw it at your door! 299.
Can’t sell owt like that though eh, litigation, Uzbek import issues; which is a joke with Boeing aircraft… Test on the public. 300 at a time.
“(…)owt(…)”
Explain clearly how One-Way-Travel is related for proposed scheme.
We were able to guilt Hi-Point into naming something “Yeet Cannon”, so maybe they could sling an equivalent quality Bowie blade under something in .45acp. When I fling something at my door I want it to know something has been flung. Or even flang.
Flaang… 12g Quite right brother, and it will be made of American steel for 325.99 flaang it! Axe head, pistol grips sold seperately.
An 8 shot “serbu” which you can, if want for 25 bux turn into an axe… I mean, still sounds quite good.
No warranty mind, and yes oversized american steel, but like door throwing if you happened to attach the axe head; possibly may cause mecanical issues… Hey flaaang it 325!
“(…)turn into(…)axe(…)”
If you need shotgun with blade weapon then use СОНАЗ https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/TP-82
China eh, India… The rest, well lets hope we “The Rest” can sort something out, unlike at anytime ever before. Well done Boris Johnson, for Crimea… Who was the feckin Crimean war against, streets here named after the battles Alma, Sevastopol, pissing Russians. Shitehawk peddler of piss. Sorry just making use of your American freedom of speech thing, in Kier Starmers ostrich head in the sand pretend it isn’t happening by clamping down on mentioning it dictarorship.
India, as if they aren’t going to fecking buy cheap oil. Piss flaps.
https://youtu.be/58ErgKDorsk?si=0qL_zmVEfrcGbGX2
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_in_the_Forest
Maybe those big white trees, in Italy…
Going back to our discussion a while back regarding the Dolne and Delhaxhe “Apache” pepperboxes with little dagger blades and “knucks” built in, I think this was yet another “self-protection” gadget intended to appeal to the elegant boulevardiers niche market. Something to wave around and by firing it off, make some noise to ward off the footpads and summon Les Gendarmes to save their patrician arses.
Keep in mind the owner would probably be (1) well-dressed, wearing a walking coat with nice big pockets, (2) well-funded, with a purse fattened by Daddy’s money plus his winnings at the gaming tables or at cards, and of course (3) probably half-sideways after the night’s libations.
The knife blade would be more of a weapon-retention item than a serious edged weapon.
Myself, my solution would have been more along the lines of a couple of Colt 1860 Army or Starr 1861 Double-Action Army .44s in the short-barreled “Mormon Avenger” style, but that’s just me.
clear ether
eon
I like your solution. Those old-fashioned great coats had capacious pockets. Though yeah, a Mormon Avenger might spoil the line of a boulevardier’s evening attire.
Arkansas toothpick with a 5 shot anything in about 11mm pinfire or Short Colt or even 45 LC.