A historical reference for more than one hundred handguns. United States Martial Pistols and Revolvers, first published in 1939, provides firearm collectors and enthusiasts with a single authoritative volume containing information on the development and description of martial short arms, from the flintlock pistol that was available at the birth of the nation to the latest available handguns during the World War I. This book is particularly useful to collectors as an important reference source, offering a listing of single-shot pistols, revolvers, and semiautomatic pistols, over the period of 1799–1917. Gluckman covers the brief histories of more than one hundred handguns, going into the specific details of the chemistry of gunpowder and the development of the first automatic firearms. Following innovators like Reverend Alexander Forsyth, John P. Lindsay, and Samuel Colt, the evolution of the weapons is carefully examined over time. The comprehensive text is accompanied by a series of original illustrations of the pistols and revolvers, demonstrating the specifics of many gun mechanisms. For experts and the more casual hobbyist alike, this book offers a unique collection of information on martial pistols and revolvers in the United States, up until WWI. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

An Essential Compendium for Any Firearms or Old West Aficionado, richly and comprehensively illustrated. Written by one of the foremost firearms experts of the twentieth century, Charles Edward Chapel’s Guns of the Old West is an exhaustively researched document that not only boasts a significant collection of antique Western guns, but also categorizes the firearms into easy-to-reference sections. Starting with an introductory chapter on the origins of guns and their earliest uses on the frontier, Chapel covers everything from muskets to rifles, pistols to revolvers, and shotguns to martial arms. Three whole chapters are dedicated to the rise and fall of the famous Deringer pistol. And as much as Guns of the Old West is an encyclopedic reference manual, it also contains fascinating historical literature that frames the world in which these guns were used. Buffalo guns and hunters are covered, along with martial arms of the post-Civil War era. The gun collection of famous collector and hunter President Theodore Roosevelt is given its own chapter. Illustrated with nearly five hundred illustrations, as well as important artwork from the Western period from artists such as Frederic Remington, Guns of the Old West is an essential work for gun collectors and American history enthusiasts.

In the early transition from the long-lived flintlock system, handgun development closely paralleled that of the long arms. With the advent of the revolving pistols, however; came patents that created monopolies in revolver production and the through-bored cylinder necessary for self-contained metallic cartridges. The caplock revolvers took on a separate evolution and remained state of the art long after the widespread appearance of cartridge firing rifles and shotguns. They rode in the holsters of of explorers and adventurers across the world and granted safe conduct in the back-alleys of the Industrial West right up until the last quarter of the 19th Century. Handguns possess a mystique distinctly different from that of other firearms. They are tools of personal empowerment-chosen by their owners to provide independence and freedom of movement. In the ambitious, optimistic early years of western industrial civilization they were the emblem of liberty and equality and the bane of repressive governments and social movements. Largely because of the traditions that emerged in the time of the caplock pistols and revolvers, they remain so in the early years of the 21st Century.

When Meriwether Lewis began shopping for supplies and firearms to take on the Corps of Discovery’s journey west, his first stop was a federal arsenal. For the following twenty-nine months, from the time the Lewis and Clark expedition left Camp Dubois with a cannon salute in 1804 until it announced its return from the West Coast to St. Louis with a volley in 1806, weapons were a crucial component of the participants’ tool kit. In Weapons of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, historian Jim Garry describes the arms and ammunition the expedition carried and the use and care those weapons received. The Corps of Discovery’s purposes were to explore the Missouri and Columbia river basins, to make scientific observations, and to contact the tribes along the way for both science and diplomacy. Throughout the trek, the travelers used their guns to procure food—they could consume around 350 pounds of meat a day—and to protect themselves from dangerous animals. Firearms were also invaluable in encounters with Indian groups, as guns were one of the most sought-after trade items in the West. As Garry notes, the explorers’ willingness to demonstrate their weapons’ firepower probably kept meetings with some tribes from becoming violent. The mix of arms carried by the expedition extended beyond rifles and muskets to include pistols, knives, espontoons, a cannon, and blunderbusses. Each chapter focuses on one of the major types of weapons and weaves accounts from the expedition journals with the author’s knowledge gained from field-testing the muskets and rifles he describes. Appendices tally the weapons carried and explain how the expedition’s flintlocks worked. Weapons of the Lewis and Clark Expedition integrates original research with a lively narrative. This encyclopedic reference will be invaluable to historians and weaponry aficionados.

This volume, containing hundreds of illustrations, brings to life the American of the mid-to-late 1800s. Contained inside are line drawings and description of weaponry of the time, military and civilian clothing styles, steamboats and other forms of transportation, equestrian styles, household items and much more.