Belgian Pinfire Revolver
This is a cool antique revolver that was my grandfather's. He probably brought it home with him after WWII. It is a Lefaucheux pinfire made in Belgium about 130 years ago.
One of the unusual features is the pinfire cartridge. The picture above from Wikipedia shows how the pin sticks out through the side of the cylinder. I don't know how often it happened, but this design allows the gun to go off accidentally if it is dropped and lands on something that pushes in the pin on one of the cartridges.
There is no trigger guard and the trigger folds up so that it can fit in a pocket.
The muzzle in this one measures 11 mm.
As kids, we always thought this gun was so cool. We called it The Pirate Pistol.
Cheers, Professor Bromide 
Pirate pistol is a great name for it!
The 11mm pinfire was a fairly powerful black powder cartridge in the 1800s. There was a number of them imported into the U.S. and used on the frontier in the 1860s and 70s. Those are really interesting pieces of history.
I wish I knew more about where this one came from. The ratchet pawls on the outside of the cylinder are well worn. Somebody did quite a bit of shooting with it.
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It's very piratey! I like it a lot. So the dropping the gun and it going off thing is actually based in historical fact!!
Ahrrrggg! Aye, dropping this thing would be a big mistake.
Putting it in your pocket without a trigger guard also seems questionable. That is a good way to accidentally ventilate your privates.
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What a piece of history! The lack of a trigger guard is the first I've ever seen. Glad that revolvers have become much safer now!
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