12mm German Percussion Target Pistol

[JDZincavage]

Decades ago, I bought a German Percussion Target Pistol at a gun show. The lock spring was too weak to work, and I've fimally arranged, all these years later, to get it repaired. TargetPistol2-1280.jpg

Does anybody know anything about this type of firearm? or the competitions they were presumably used in?

[JDZincavage]

TargetPistol1-1280.jpg

Photo2

[sharps4590]

I am by no means an authority on persuckshun target pistols however, nearly all I've seen had a rear sight. If it has one is it hidden behind the hammer on your pistol?

[JDZincavage]

Yes, it does. The rear sight is quite small and is concealed in the photo. I should have take a picture from the other side as well.

[sharps4590]

Ah...that is typical for the era. Some were so small they could hide behind the nipple and you wonder how on earth they even saw them to shoot. I don't know any more than that other than it is a cool pistol. I assume the barrel is rifled and, do you plan on shooting it now that it's repaired? If it's in any shape to shoot I know I couldn't resist the temptation.

[JDZincavage]

It has a very large number of sharp, very deep rifling grooves. I have every intention of shooting it. Having heard back on the bore diameter from the gunsmith, I already bought some .480 balls. There's a video on-line of a guy loading and firing several percussion target pistols. Loading is quite a procedure. You evidently need a bullet-starter and a mallet to pound the ball in. The video guy added some cornmeal on top of his black powder.

[Axel E]

That's not a target pistol, but an 1850s -60s officers or duelling pistol. Officers then had to buy their own personal arms.There were no target shooting contests then, just informal plinking as training for real duels. You may have read duelling pistols were smoothbore, but that applied to Britain only. Continental ones were rifled and most often sold as cased pairs.

[algmule]

Hello

FWIW: I found a H[er]r C. Gaetcke, Büchsenmacher, visiting Hamburg in October 1839. In 1869 there's a C. Gätcke, Büchsenmacher und Waffenhandlung on/in Friedrichsberg, Schleswig. Very often the spelling of a name on the actual gun and the spelling of a name in written sources differ.

EDIT: in 1889 there was a Büchsenmacher J.C. Gätcke in Schleswig.
EDIT again: in 1859 there's a mentioning of a Büchsenschmied Gätcke, something about a canon.

Kind regards
Peter

[mike ford]

Note that when a word that has an "a" with umlaut is spelled without the umlaut, an "e" is added after the "a"; this is effectively the same spelling. Also, in addition to being smoothbore, British( and by extension, American) duelling pistols were not allowed to have set triggers, and the above pistol has one. There was some controversy surrounding the famous American "Burr" duel, because of set triggers.
Mike

[sharps4590]

Having been shooting muzzleloaders for....well since '74, lemme see, that's 44 years ago, I believe I can load rifle, shotgun, revolver or pistol in my sleep. Just pay attention to details and you'll do fine, it ain't no big deal.

Axel, thanks for posting that. I didn't think it was really a target pistol but being completely ignorant of pistol shooting in Germany at that time I couldn't say one way or the other. Were it of American make I would not have called it a target or dueling pistol.

[JDZincavage]

I don't think it is fancy enough to be a duelling pistol. And there is that adjustable trigger and the very large bore size. Duels were theoretically intended to constitute a trial by Judgment of God. Thus smooth-bore barrels and avoidance of set-triggers. Precision was minimized, chance maximized. Additionally, duellers would, I think, have tended to be smaller bored (leaving greater chances of survival).

[JDZincavage]

Thanks for the very useful information. Can you tell me the references you consulted?

[JDZincavage]

Do you add cornmeal, like the guy in the video?

[Axel E]

I don't think it is fancy enough to be a duelling pistol. And there is that adjustable trigger and the very large bore size. Duels were theoretically intended to constitute a trial by God. Thus smooth-bore barrels and avoidance of set-triggers. Precision was minimized, chance maximized. Additionally, duellers would, I think, have tended to be smaller bored (leaving greater chances of survival).

German duelling pistols usually had rifled barrels and set triggers, other than British / American ones. But, usually they did not have ramrods like this one and were of smaller caliber most often. That's why I would rather call it an officer's pistol. The sparing decoration with just a bit of engraving and stock carving also points to "Business", not a luxury.
As C. Gaetcke = C. Gätcke, Büchsenmacher = Büchsenschmied = gunsmith is mentioned 1839 – 1869, living in Friedrichsberg, a suburb of Schleswig, the pistol was likely made for an officer of the Schleswig –Holstein army during the 1848 – 1851 uprising against Danish rule, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Schleswig_War

[JDZincavage]

German duelling pistols usually had rifled barrels and set triggers, other than British / American ones. But, usually they did not have ramrods like this one and were of smaller caliber most often. That's why I would rather call it an officer's pistol. The sparing decoration with just a bit of engraving and stock carving also points to "Business", not a luxury.
As C. Gaetcke = C. Gätcke, Büchsenmacher = Büchsenschmied = gunsmith is mentioned 1839 – 1869, living in Friedrichsberg, a suburb of Schleswig, the pistol was likely made for an officer of the Schleswig –Holstein army during the 1848 – 1851 uprising against Danish rule, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Schleswig_War

“The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”

― Lord Palmerston