Gaulois Squeeze pistol of 1880?

[peckerwood]

Has anyone ever seen one of these Gaulois 8mm squeeze pistols?

How does it work?

Apparently from what I can gather so far, it is a rimfire...with cartridge dimensions as follows:

Bullet diameter: 0.300 in
Case length: 0.355 in
Rim diameter: 0.350 in
Neck diameter: 0.313 in
Base diameter: 0.315 in
Total Length: 0.588 in
Year introduced: 1880

The other two cartridges that are interchangeable are the 8mm Protector, and the 8mm Mitrailleuse. It is also apparent that there were centrefire versions of this cartridge as well as a Gaulois to fire them.

I also found this page with lots of good pictures of this little gun...and although it has a good pic of all the parts taken out and displayed, I still am having a bit of trouble figuring out just how it operated...I know that the squeezer closes the breech on the cartridge stripping it out of the magazine...but how does the firing pin release?

http://site.voila.fr/collectionarme/gaulois.htm

 

[dingus]

Nice pics there peckerwood them are cool little units i have seen the guts of a protector and they work sorta like a wheel and the ammo is in the spokes as it turns around its axis and fires as the spokes (cylinder holes) line up with the barrel.
There kinda pricy for the bang tho.

Heres my Antique Squeeze pistol 455 webley 6 shooter style
Click pic to enlarge

 

[peckerwood]

While it is expensive for the bang, I think that it is quite ingenious for it's time to have a loading mechanism, a springfed cartridge magazine, and an ejection system...that all together allows for a simple squeeze to get it to fire.

Too bad it didn't have a detachable magazine...that would have been an improvement. No real need for semiauto but still rates high on the cool factor.

I really like the looks of that short barrelled 455...compact and hard hitting I bet. I once saw a semiauto pistol chambered for the 455 webley/eley.