If there was ever a pistol showing the transition from the bar-hammer pepperbox to the revolver, the Allen and Wheelock large frame pocket revolver is it. Flayderman notes production estimates run as high as 1,500, but thinks it more likely as few as 500 were made and calls them “very, very scarce” though the company may have kept them in production from about 1857 into the early 1860s along with their medium and small frame versions. These are .34 caliber, five-shot, with octagonal barrels. As is correct, there is no no front sight on the 3-1/8” barrel. The bar hammer has two shallow, angular bends rather than forming a gentle curve. The top of the frame is stamped “ALLEN & WHEELOCK.” The left side of the bar hammer is stamped, “PATENTED APRIL 16, 1845.” The cylinder is roll-engraved with a hunting scene of dogs and deer. The grips are bag shaped. The barrel and frame were blued; the cylinder, hammer and trigger case hardened. These were batch numbered rather than serialized throughout production. This one is numbered “34” on the barrel, cylinder, triggerguard finial and inside the triggerbow. The cylinder pin is the “transitional” type for this model, using a sliding pin retained by a screw through the bottom of the frame rather than an earlier model with the pin itself screwing into the frame. Flayderman notes production estimate for this type run from “50 on up.”

This one rates very good for condition with the metal showing no finish to speak of, gray for the most part but shifting to a thin brown on the frame and grip strap, with some faint blue from case coloring on the hammer. The markings are good, as is the wood, which shows good color and surface with only small, shallow handling dings and marks. The barrel and hammer markings are sharp, as are the batch numbers. The cylinder scene is largely visible, though details are indistinct. There is a light drag line, but the nipples are good, not battered. The parts are all original. Some of the screws slots show turning. The cylinder pin retaining screw slot is chewed up a bit, as is the edge of the cylinder pin head, indicating someone had some trouble removing it at some point in its history. The mechanics, however, are fine. The bore has good rifling that shows clearly at the muzzle.

These pistols were double action and as with pepperboxes the necessary trigger pressure was likely to throw off one’s aim, but they had the advantage in rapidity of fire, which at close quarters might be decisive.  [sr][ph:m]

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