Civil War Lemat Pinfire Revolver questions

[Meta]

I've been fortunate enough to have been able to buy an original Lemat pistol for a VERY reasonable price. While I've never collected any firearms that dated prior to WWI, after even a little research I knew I couldn't lose money on the deal so I went for it. It was owned by a gentleman in Mississippi who apparently bought it for very little money from a guy who had it in the family for several generations. In any case, after my initial research, I put the gun away and only recently took it out again to try and find a proper auction house to try and find a buyer. However, before doing this I wanted to see if anyone here could help me through some rather perplexing issues that I am finding make this gun seem almost unique. While elements of it look like a classic second model Lemat, rounded trigger guard, octogonal barrel, etc, its serial number (64) places it in the early first model timeframe. Even more odd is the fact that its NOT a percussion pistol at all, like all other Lemats except the baby lemat, which I believe is Pinfire like my pistol. My pistol's dimensions make it absolutely NOT the extremely rare Baby Lemat, but retains the pinfire distinction. In fact, Pinfire Lemat revolvers are exceptionally rare from what I have been able to research. The only pictures I've been able to find are on Wikipedia of all places and virtually nowhere else! The Wikipedia writers mistakenly refer to the pistol they have pictured as an ordinary Lemat, which it is more definitely not according to all other references. Odd, eh? All other Lemats are percussion. Anyhow, I thought some of the civil war firearm guys here would be able to help me figure out exactly what I have here. I've posted some pictures and a few links for comparison. Much appreciated for the help!
http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/revolvers.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeMat_Revolver

 

[Jim K]

One thing I am sure you noticed about those two articles (both apparently from the same source) is that they talk only about the LeMat percussion revolver but both show pinfire revolvers. In the re-enactors article, the LeMat shown in the case is clearly pinfire, as is the one shown in the Wikipedia article. I can only conclude that the writer(s) had no knowledge of the pinfire system and believed they were percussion. In any case, the photos show that your pinfire LeMat is not the only one and might not even be rare. I am going to do a bit more digging (you are correct that information is hard to come by on the LeMat) and will try to get back to you.

Jim

 

[Jim K]

I did a bit of Googling and came up with three sites you might want to look at. I don't know if the book is available, but it would be worthwhile to check. Pinfire revolvers were certainly available in the Civil War period, but the Confederates may have preferred percussion because of the difficulty of getting pinfire cartridges. There was apparently even a center-fire model in the 1880's that I had not known about.

If you can find any Civil War connection for your revolver, the value could be considerable.

Here are the sites:

http://cwpforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=793&sid=b409ebfcc1f63fec31ef13d9638c5438

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=257924

http://home.hiwaay.net/~stargate/lemat.htm

Jim

 

[Jim K]

Duplicate - deleted.

Jim

 

[Meta]

Thanks for looking into this. I've never been so perplexed while researching a firearm. This one has me almost beat. What I have come up with so far is this:

The serial number on the barrrel is 61. This number SHOULD be a First Model Lemat percussion, not pinfire! These range from serial numbers 1 to 450. The problem is that all first model barrels were ROUND. Mine is Octogonal like all Second Models. Strange, indeed!
http://www.littlegun.be/arme%20americaine/revolver%20confedere/a%20revolver%20confedere%20le%20mat%20gb.htm

Pinfire Lemat revolvers are extremely rare. I have not found a single example for sale or that has been sold anywhere I could find on the internet. It is only even mentioned as existing in a few places, like here where someone else was asking a question about Lemats in general:

http://www.voy.com/201758/7.html
"As to your question Dave, LeMats are single action, the current reproduction is cap and ball, although some original post civil war models are chambered for pinfire cartridges. Pinfires are extremely rare, so rare that getting one is like trying to find a black hole in an entire galaxy of a billion stars."

Some of the pictures on Wikipedia is exactly what I have, but they call it a PERCUSSION Lemat, which clearly it is not. The only other pictures I was able to find of the version that I have is here:
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=160505&sid=43447b8e110d91811e0878b5823c8f06

So, thats about it. Can't find one for sale, can't find one sold and can't find anyone who knows the history of this odd piece....yet.

 

[Meta]

Found another reference:

http://www.riflesnguns.com/node/765

"After the introduction of cartridge-firing firearms, the LeMat system appeared in pinfire, but this version is exceedingly rare."

Yet again, another reference to the Lemat revolver in pinfire variation being exceedingly rare.

 

[Jim K]

It is not only odd that supposed experts can't tell a pinfire from a percussion but that there seems to be almost no information on the LeMat other than Civil War use, even though they were made for at least a decade after the end of the war. I can see that the C.S. might not have wanted pinfire revolvers, but Europeans did and they should have been the big seller in that period when percussion revolvers were obsolete.

Jim