Howdah pistol info?

Brutus

Brutus

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Does anyone know personally of one or two really good sources of information regarding these antique howdah percussion muzzleloading pistols?
The WW Greener book I have is sadly lacking in any kind of specifics about these jungle handguns. (1840s or so)

Anyone with a source or know of any good British or Continental book titles on this subject??

Cheers!
 
Way too many varieties, so it makes it tough to write about them in general. Single barrel, double barrel, flint, percussion, cartridge, .50 cal to 10 bore, and everything in between. Anything short and powerful enough to shoot a tiger off of your elephant was a howdah pistol.
 
gabrielguitars said:
Way too many varieties, so it makes it tough to write about them in general. Single barrel, double barrel, flint, percussion, cartridge, .50 cal to 10 bore, and everything in between. Anything short and powerful enough to shoot a tiger off of your elephant was a howdah pistol.
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Yeah, you are probably right. Maybe I'll have to spring for a Jim Corbett authored book on Indian tiger hunting?
BTW there are some seriously expensive books about tiger hunting in various south asian countries back in the day.
 
Brutus said:
Does anyone know personally of one or two really good sources of information regarding these antique howdah percussion muzzleloading pistols?
The WW Greener book I have is sadly lacking in any kind of specifics about these jungle handguns. (1840s or so)

Anyone with a source or know of any good British or Continental book titles on this subject??

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Many Howdah pistols were breech-loaders - the Lancaster was a four-barrelled Howdah pistol in .476 Lancaster. Many others used the .577 Snider cartridge as issued.

tac
ol
 
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If you have access to old "Gun Digests", there was an article on the Howdah pistols. Bot sure of the Year, but I believe it was back in the 1980s and most of my Gun Digest books are packed away.
.
 
Brutus said:
Yeah, you are probably right. Maybe I'll have to spring for a Jim Corbett authored book on Indian tiger hunting?
BTW there are some seriously expensive books about tiger hunting in various south asian countries back in the day.
Click to expand...

"Maneaters of Kumaon" (think that was the title, is well worth reading but I don't recall him ever mentioning anything about a howdah pistol.
there was another book about tiger hunting, which I can't find at the moment but I think the author's name was Hunt and he claimed to have shot over 200 tigers over a 40 year period from roughly 1860 to 1900. Very interesting reading but again no howdah pistols mentioned. He was a forester in India and initially used a heavy barreled shotgun loaded with ball and later progressed through various cartridge guns.

cheers mooncoon
 
Jim Corbett made a part time hobby of hunting man eating leopards and tigers in the foot hill of the Himalayas. He usually hunted alone and used a variety of rifles including a .275 Rigby Mauser, (7x57mm).
He was born in India and ran a large crew that transferred goods from the narrow gauge mountain railways to the standard gauge trains of the plains for the Bengal and North Western Railway.
He also instructed the 14th Army in jungle warfare in WW 2.
The Vancouver and Burnaby Public Libraries had a number of his books.
 
buffdog said:
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If you have access to old "Gun Digests", there was an article on the Howdah pistols. Bot sure of the Year, but I believe it was back in the 1980s and most of my Gun Digest books are packed away.
.
Click to expand...

I have most of those from the '80s will check tonight; scanning & posting would probably be a copyright issue but if I find it I'll PM you, Brutus.
 
Brutus said:
Hey! Thanks buddy.........:)
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No prob - unfortunately I can't find the article. I can find (and thumbed through with no luck) '88, '89, '90, '93...'99 missing a box, still in storage I guess.

Sounds like GD 2012 has an article on it:

h ttp://books.google.ca/books?id=_B4Rzu9kUscC&pg=PT501&lpg=PT501&dq=%22gun+digest%22+%26+howdah&source=bl&ots=4WaHMd0hs4&sig=H0YwiCYXRqHz9WiO8GkD5WfoZZk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fh0TUf_aK6TSigKFx4HADw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBQ

sorry I can't be more help
 
NorthCoastBigBore said:
No prob - unfortunately I can't find the article. I can find (and thumbed through with no luck) '88, '89, '90, '93...'99 missing a box, still in storage I guess.

Sounds like GD 2012 has an article on it:

h ttp://books.google.ca/books?id=_B4Rzu9kUscC&pg=PT501&lpg=PT501&dq=%22gun+digest%22+%26+howdah&source=bl&ots=4WaHMd0hs4&sig=H0YwiCYXRqHz9WiO8GkD5WfoZZk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fh0TUf_aK6TSigKFx4HADw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBQ

sorry I can't be more help
Click to expand...

Thanks for trying friend!

Cheers......................;)
 
Hi Brutus
They are a passion of mine, it's extremly hard to find any info on them. Are you going to be at the Calgary Gun Show this Easter? I was thinking of putting on a display, I should have 8 Lancaster's and 4 cartridge Howdah's by then. Most of the Lancasters I have are not true Howdah's as they are in the smaller calibers. I have most of Jim Corbetts books but do not recall any mention of Howdah pistols but then I don't think he ever hunted Tigers from an Ellie. Great topic!
 
Wow John! That's quite an impressive collection you have there. Myself I have one meager percussion double barrel.
I'm not sure if I'm going to be in Calgary then. It really depends on, if other family members will be in town or not.
Cheers!
Joe

Edit: I was kind of following cartridge howdah pistols being sold online. IIRC, a rather nice Roda in 577 Snider was scooped up by whom I suspected to be the American gun writer Gary James via gunsinternational dot com. He featured this British handgun during a tv show well after it sold & this handgun looked very familiar.
 
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if i could get a antique cartridge howdah id put my boys ATR money on it a .577 snider one would kick a bit in rifle form it has about 20lb of recoil out of a some what lighter pistol it would be something
 
Brutus said:
Wow John! That's quite an impressive collection you have there. Myself I have one meager percussion double barrel.
I'm not sure if I'm going to be in Calgary then. It really depends on, if other family members will be in town or not.
Cheers!
Joe

Edit: I was kind of following cartridge howdah pistols being sold online. IIRC, a rather nice Roda in 577 Snider was scooped up by whom I suspected to be the American gun writer Gary James via gunsinternational dot com. He featured this British handgun during a tv show well after it sold & this handgun looked very familiar.
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I have missed a few great deals in the last 6 months, always found them to late. That is why I am offering a $100 finder’s fee for info leading to the successful purchase of a Lancaster pistol which is not already known to me, I will extend that to include Howdah pistols as well.
 
Mr Wolverine said:
I have missed a few great deals in the last 6 months, always found them to late. That is why I am offering a $100 finder’s fee for info leading to the successful purchase of a Lancaster pistol which is not already known to me, I will extend that to include Howdah pistols as well.
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Sorry for the very belated reply. I will certainly keep this in mind friend.

Cheers!
 
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