Pepperbox pistol 1840s?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

My pepperbox is very similar to yours Jim.
It does have a maker's name W.Dooley of Liverpool - so definitely English, and an additional safety feature which locks the hammer up. Each barrel is numbered and has a proof mark.

The barrel numbers are, I think, important for loading. To help ensure you don't load a barrel twice.
Obviously, the caps go on last. There is no half cock position but if you use the safety bar you can rotate the barrels by number to load.

Firearms are mostly outside my interest but this came up at auction with no other bidders. So I was happy to take it home.

Thank you SO much for this! It seems compelling this is likely the same maker by the characteristics pretty much a match. This info literally opened the flood gates for online data!This is exactly the kind of input I always hope for, which is why I posted these. Now I can document properly....cant believe Ive waited this long to follow up on these!