need help with this gun not a parker

[dianeflynn]

i know its not a parker but wanted to see if anyone could guess what it might be i know its old, its heavy, brass i think, wood on handle, or if anyone could give me some idea where to seek information. or even what it is. no numbers or marks on it except the pat. applied for.thank you

[Dennis]

It is an interesting old gun. Could you give us a hint such as when you pull back the hammer does it reveal a percussion nipple or does it possibly accept a cartridge. It looks to be a small caliber, possibly .22 or smaller which leads me to believe it may be some type of parlor gun for shooting targets inside with little noise at short range. Does a .177 caliber BB fit in the barrel as some guns were possibly designed to use a percussion cap by itself to fire a BB; sort of an early .22 CB cartridge.

[dianeflynn]

iam sending more pictures, only because not sure how to answer questions, the barrel is smaller then a bb, my boyfriend measured it and its about .115. i think the handle parts are walnut. thank you again for checking out.

[George Lander]

Diane: I believe that Dennis is correct. It is what's commonly called a "parlor pistol" for target shooting indoors, probably late 1800's. BB shot back then were lead & slightly smaller than today's copper clad variety that Daisy makes.

Best Regards, George

[Dennis]

Diane, following up on what George added to my original information I would guess it was made in the 1870's to 1880's. As George said, the BB's were not plated at that time and would have been loaded from the breech. Firing them would size them down somewhat to give a better fit to the bore. It looks like the hammer has a bad crack on the one side. I have no talents at all in repairing things so I am wondering if it could be rewelded if you chose to do that. I don't think the pistol has much value and is more of a curiosity so perhaps is not worth the money to repair. It is an interesting piece though.