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The reason [why handgun training manuals remain scarce] possibly lies in the fact that the pistol has hitherto been looked upon either as a toy or as the weapon of the desperado. As a toy it was not worth while to enter seriously upon a course of instruction in regard to the best methods of using it; as a -weapon for slaying our fellow men, the subject appeared altogether too brutal and horrible to admit of quiet discussion. To undertake deliberately to study the best charges of powder and ball calculated to kill or disable a human being, and the most vulnerable parts of the human body in which to plant these charges, does seem rather inhuman. But let us look at the other aspect of the case. The house of one man is attacked, and because he either has no weapons, or does not know how to use them, his property is carried off and his wife, perhaps, outraged before his eyes. Under very different circumstances the same ruffians, emboldened by previous impunity, attack another house. The owner has given careful study to the powers of his weapon, and to the best methods of utilizing these powers. Cool and self-possessed, because he knows not only that he is invincible but that his cause is just, he takes aim with steady eye and firm hand; the villains fall before him like beasts of prey beneath the hand of the skilful hunter, and his home and all that it contains is saved. Which of these two men will carry to the grave the most torturing mental horrors? He whose imbecility saw his home violated and destroyed while the ravishers went free, or he whose superior skill and courage saved all that makes home home, and this at the trifling expense of the death of a few nameless ruffians?
From The Pistol As A Weapon Of Defence In The House And On The Road, from 1875:
Interesting about that date. While handguns had been in existence for several hundred years, only two years prior, Colt had introduced their Model P, also known as the Peacemaker. They had been waiting quietly for a patent to expire, that patent for the bored-through cylinder. Curiously, the guy that held the patent was once an employee of Colt (an engineer named Rollins White), but Smith and Wesson had agreed to pay a royalty to White for each revolver manufactured, and Colt couldn't use the patent until it expired.
PawPaw wrote:Interesting about that date. While handguns had been in existence for several hundred years, only two years prior, Colt had introduced their Model P, also known as the Peacemaker. They had been waiting quietly for a patent to expire, that patent for the bored-through cylinder. Curiously, the guy that held the patent was once an employee of Colt (an engineer named Rollins White), but Smith and Wesson had agreed to pay a royalty to White for each revolver manufactured, and Colt couldn't use the patent until it expired.
And things like that are, as the saying goes, why I love this bar.
As for the original quote, its style of writing rather reminded me of Col. Jeff Cooper.
I seem to recall, (memory being a feeble reed at this age) that Colt missed the date of expiration on the patent, and thus was forced to use the Mason-Richards conversions until the design team caught up with reality.
Don't quote me on this, but it does explain a few things, if it's true.
(Of course, the possibility exists that they simply had a shitload of cap-and-ball revolvers left over from the North-South Unpleasantness, and needed to do something with them.)
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six." Lindy Cooper Wisdom
"trifiling death of a few nameless ruffians" amused me.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."
“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
