Pinfire Revolver

I'm in the process of getting a client's house ready to sell. As I was cleaning closets today I ran into something I hadn't seen before. It's a pin fire revolver.







Near as I can tell, it's a Safety American model 1879. Probably a 7mm. 3" octagon barrel. Double action and cycles but even if I could find ammunition I'd be hard pressed to fire it as it doesn't exactly lock up nice and tight. It's probably no more than a wall hanger but it was a nifty find.

A collector would pay a nice premium for that gun, and probably do what is needed to get it back to fireable condition.

OrphanSlug said:

A collector would pay a nice premium for that gun, and probably do what is needed to get it back to fireable condition.

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My guess is that it would be in the $100-200 range for most collectors, maybe less. It's definitely old and unusual but I have no idea where to get pin fire cartridges and I don't have a lot of hope that any gunsmith could get the action to lock up correctly.

My suspicion is that it's an American knockoff of a French pistol which might be worth a few bucks.

Lutherf said:

I'm in the process of getting a client's house ready to sell. As I was cleaning closets today I ran into something I hadn't seen before. It's a pin fire revolver.

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Near as I can tell, it's a Safety American model 1879. Probably a 7mm. 3" octagon barrel. Double action and cycles but even if I could find ammunition I'd be hard pressed to fire it as it doesn't exactly lock up nice and tight. It's probably no more than a wall hanger but it was a nifty find.

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If it is unmodified it might fetch thousands at an auction to a collector, if it had been redone or modified/ converted it's value drops dramatically especially if there is no ammo available for it. MY freind had a hold of his grandfathers antique revolver from the same era, currently his brother has it, but I forget the caliber now either .41 or .42. either way it was a common caliber then, but did not last through the decades like other calibers of the era like .44 .38 .36 .22(.22 is the oldest cartridge design still in common use, predating the civil war) etc.


He finally got it appraised and the value fell between 300 bucks and 25k depending on who he asked, some people tried to hand him cash on the spot for it. It was more collectible than practical, as last time I tried to find ammo for him, I found the bullet molds still exist and some guys can reload them, but no one made shells for them, so unless the guy who had the gun saved the brass shells it was unfirable without converting it, which would have destroyed it's value.

Lutherf said:

My guess is that it would be in the $100-200 range for most collectors, maybe less. It's definitely old and unusual but I have no idea where to get pin fire cartridges and I don't have a lot of hope that any gunsmith could get the action to lock up correctly.

My suspicion is that it's an American knockoff of a French pistol which might be worth a few bucks.

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Collectors often do not care about if ammo is available, they care about rarity and condition as well as popularity, I would find a gunsmith or someone else knowledgeable on antique guns to appraise it rather than assume it is worthless.

Great find!