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I'd been reading about these little pistols a while back and found this one for a discount price so I pulled the trigger on it as it were. As neat as they are, what interested me in this particular pistol was the low serial number - 9618.
This is a Sharps Model 1A Pepperbox in 22 caliber rim fire. From what I've read about them there were approximately 89,000 of the Model 1s produced in 15 years. Extrapolating from that data and assuming consistent production year over year, I guestimate that this particular pistol was made in 1860. That's just a scientific WAG on the year, but it is an early production number.
There are several posts about this pistol already, but here's a little history courtesy of Tim Prince of College Hill Arsenal:
In 1859, Sharps received a patent for what would be the most successful design and the biggest money maker for his new venture, a four-barreled pepperbox pistol. Sharps produced the guns in a variety of variations, based upon their caliber, and thus their frame size. The guns were manufactured in .22RF, .30RF and .32RF, and over the next few years Sharps produced thousands of the easily concealable personal protection cartridge guns.
The Sharps Pepperbox design was an innovative way to manufacture a repeating metallic cartridge handgun without running afoul of the Rollin White patent on the bored through cylinder that Smith & Wesson had an exclusive arrangement to use. Rather than using a single barrel with a rotating cylinder, Sharps used multiple barrels with a rotating firing pin. The Sharps design had a square cross section, with two side-by-side barrels stacked on top of two other side-by-side barrels. While the percussion pepperboxes of pervious decades had utilized rotating barrels, which aligned with the hammer when fired, Sharps design had four fixed barrels that were fired by a rotating firing pin in the single hammer. Each time the hammer was cocked the firing pin rotated one quadrant clockwise to bring it into alignment with the next barrel.
Over the decade and half that Sharps produced his little pistols, some 156,000+ would be manufactured in four basic types. They were the Model 1 in .22RF with about 89,000 produced, the Model 2 in .30RF with about 37,000 produced, the Model 3 made by Sharps & Hankins in .32RF Short with about 15,000 produced and the Model 4 (Bird's Head or "round butt") in .32RF Short and Long with another 15,000 produced. With the exceptions of the Model 1A and some Model 3 pistols, which had gutta percha grips, varnished wood grips were standard. The majority of the production was finished with blued barrels and silver plated brass frames.
The Sharps Pepperbox is one of the most instantly recognizable pistols ever produced, and in addition to the more than 150,000 produced by Sharps, many more thousands were produced around the world, copying Sharps design. Some, like those manufactured by Tipping & Lawden in England or Ghaye of Liege were made under a licensing agreement with Sharps, while others were outright patent infringements and forgeries. The Sharps Pepperbox has honor of being one of the few 19th century firearms designs that is still being produced today, both as reproductions of the mid-1800s gun and as modern variations upon a long-expired patent design.
Suffice it to say I'm happy with this neat, innovative little pistol, especially for the price paid. Here is my new to me Sharps Model 1A Pepperbox:
This is a Sharps Model 1A Pepperbox in 22 caliber rim fire. From what I've read about them there were approximately 89,000 of the Model 1s produced in 15 years. Extrapolating from that data and assuming consistent production year over year, I guestimate that this particular pistol was made in 1860. That's just a scientific WAG on the year, but it is an early production number.
There are several posts about this pistol already, but here's a little history courtesy of Tim Prince of College Hill Arsenal:
In 1859, Sharps received a patent for what would be the most successful design and the biggest money maker for his new venture, a four-barreled pepperbox pistol. Sharps produced the guns in a variety of variations, based upon their caliber, and thus their frame size. The guns were manufactured in .22RF, .30RF and .32RF, and over the next few years Sharps produced thousands of the easily concealable personal protection cartridge guns.
The Sharps Pepperbox design was an innovative way to manufacture a repeating metallic cartridge handgun without running afoul of the Rollin White patent on the bored through cylinder that Smith & Wesson had an exclusive arrangement to use. Rather than using a single barrel with a rotating cylinder, Sharps used multiple barrels with a rotating firing pin. The Sharps design had a square cross section, with two side-by-side barrels stacked on top of two other side-by-side barrels. While the percussion pepperboxes of pervious decades had utilized rotating barrels, which aligned with the hammer when fired, Sharps design had four fixed barrels that were fired by a rotating firing pin in the single hammer. Each time the hammer was cocked the firing pin rotated one quadrant clockwise to bring it into alignment with the next barrel.
Over the decade and half that Sharps produced his little pistols, some 156,000+ would be manufactured in four basic types. They were the Model 1 in .22RF with about 89,000 produced, the Model 2 in .30RF with about 37,000 produced, the Model 3 made by Sharps & Hankins in .32RF Short with about 15,000 produced and the Model 4 (Bird's Head or "round butt") in .32RF Short and Long with another 15,000 produced. With the exceptions of the Model 1A and some Model 3 pistols, which had gutta percha grips, varnished wood grips were standard. The majority of the production was finished with blued barrels and silver plated brass frames.
The Sharps Pepperbox is one of the most instantly recognizable pistols ever produced, and in addition to the more than 150,000 produced by Sharps, many more thousands were produced around the world, copying Sharps design. Some, like those manufactured by Tipping & Lawden in England or Ghaye of Liege were made under a licensing agreement with Sharps, while others were outright patent infringements and forgeries. The Sharps Pepperbox has honor of being one of the few 19th century firearms designs that is still being produced today, both as reproductions of the mid-1800s gun and as modern variations upon a long-expired patent design.
Suffice it to say I'm happy with this neat, innovative little pistol, especially for the price paid. Here is my new to me Sharps Model 1A Pepperbox:
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