Folsom Prison inmate made derringer from 1880's-1890's era
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:01 pm
Adolf Hitler, speaking of the post-WW1 Allied disarmament of Germany, once said "If a people but desire weapons, weapons will grow in their hands."
While this quote is not meant as praise or approval of the policies or leaders of the 3rd Reich, I think the little weapon featured here illustrates the truth of this statement, as well as both the difficulty oppressive and hateful anti-Civil/Human/Constitutional/Firearms rights regime criminals would have disarming the freedom loving defenders of all that is good and right and keeping us disarmed, and the challenges of even keeping guns out of the hands of REAL criminals that show the fallacy and deliberate evil and lies of those who claim that taking guns away from law abiding citizens will somehow make us all safer and keep guns out of the hands of truly determined and resourceful criminals.
This pistol was completely hand made by an inmate in California's maximum security Folsom Prison sometime in the 1880's-1890's period. Folsom Prison was built to house the criminals who were too violent and dangerous for even San Quentin, California's first maximum security prison. If the trained, armed, uniformed prison guards and other law enforcement personel of that period - whose very lives are at risk from inmate violence and weapons - couldn't keep guns out of the hands of enterprising and resourceful criminals under constant watch and supervision in solid granite stone 8' X 4' cells with a solid iron door in a maximum security facility, somehow I don't think banning the possession of firearms by honest people is going to keep Trayshawn the Hood Rat, Toothless Tony the Tweaker, or Carlos the Cartel Killer from acquiring and using guns.
O.k., that ends today's little sermon. On to the pistol.
For years the administration at Folsom Prison maintained a little museum collection of the various weapons made and used by inmates and other items relating to the history of the facility. This little single shot, muzzle loading, cap and ball, hand made, derringer was one of those. I don't think any records were kept of who the items in the collection were confiscated from or when, but I plan on contacting "The Retired Correctional Peace Officer's Museum" at Folsom State Prison" - http://www.folsomprisonmuseum.org - and seeing if they might have any information or records on this. Anyhow, this collection was consigned for auction and sold by my friends at Little John's Antique Arms And Auctions in Orange, California at some time during the 1990's, and this pistol was among the items sold. I was not present at that auction, but sometime later this gun was re-consigned by the purchaser to a later auction in the late 1990's, at which time I acquired it. Somewhere I have the auction catalog listing it, the actual auction inventory number tag for it, and the receipt from Little John's listing it and showing what I paid....as I recall, it was something in the $60 range.
It's a pretty cool little example of the "prison gunsmith's" art. It is fully functional and operational, although as you cock the hammer you do have to push the trigger forward to get the sear to engage and lock the hammer back, and the hammer falls very, very easily. The barrel is bored all the way through as is the nipple, and filled with powder made from the heads of the big old wooden "kitchen" matches in use at the time and a projectile made of metal, stone, glass, ceramic, wood, or whatever else might be available at the time and place, this weapon could indeed be lethal at close range.
It's kind of interesting to see the various bits of scrap and other materials used in the construction of this gun. The base for the nipple and the bolster on the barrel are old small hex nuts. The trigger guard, backstrap, and a little reinforcing strap on the left side of the gun are sheet copper. All parts are hand cut and filed to shape. I don't know what - if anything - was used for a breech plug, so I have never attempted to fire this pistol. Some guns are more for looking than for shooting, if you know what I mean! Who ever made it had a fairly good understanding of how a percussion firearm of the period worked, and it would be interesting to see the inside of the lockwork, however, I have no intention of dis-assembling the gun.
While this quote is not meant as praise or approval of the policies or leaders of the 3rd Reich, I think the little weapon featured here illustrates the truth of this statement, as well as both the difficulty oppressive and hateful anti-Civil/Human/Constitutional/Firearms rights regime criminals would have disarming the freedom loving defenders of all that is good and right and keeping us disarmed, and the challenges of even keeping guns out of the hands of REAL criminals that show the fallacy and deliberate evil and lies of those who claim that taking guns away from law abiding citizens will somehow make us all safer and keep guns out of the hands of truly determined and resourceful criminals.
This pistol was completely hand made by an inmate in California's maximum security Folsom Prison sometime in the 1880's-1890's period. Folsom Prison was built to house the criminals who were too violent and dangerous for even San Quentin, California's first maximum security prison. If the trained, armed, uniformed prison guards and other law enforcement personel of that period - whose very lives are at risk from inmate violence and weapons - couldn't keep guns out of the hands of enterprising and resourceful criminals under constant watch and supervision in solid granite stone 8' X 4' cells with a solid iron door in a maximum security facility, somehow I don't think banning the possession of firearms by honest people is going to keep Trayshawn the Hood Rat, Toothless Tony the Tweaker, or Carlos the Cartel Killer from acquiring and using guns.
O.k., that ends today's little sermon. On to the pistol.
For years the administration at Folsom Prison maintained a little museum collection of the various weapons made and used by inmates and other items relating to the history of the facility. This little single shot, muzzle loading, cap and ball, hand made, derringer was one of those. I don't think any records were kept of who the items in the collection were confiscated from or when, but I plan on contacting "The Retired Correctional Peace Officer's Museum" at Folsom State Prison" - http://www.folsomprisonmuseum.org - and seeing if they might have any information or records on this. Anyhow, this collection was consigned for auction and sold by my friends at Little John's Antique Arms And Auctions in Orange, California at some time during the 1990's, and this pistol was among the items sold. I was not present at that auction, but sometime later this gun was re-consigned by the purchaser to a later auction in the late 1990's, at which time I acquired it. Somewhere I have the auction catalog listing it, the actual auction inventory number tag for it, and the receipt from Little John's listing it and showing what I paid....as I recall, it was something in the $60 range.
It's a pretty cool little example of the "prison gunsmith's" art. It is fully functional and operational, although as you cock the hammer you do have to push the trigger forward to get the sear to engage and lock the hammer back, and the hammer falls very, very easily. The barrel is bored all the way through as is the nipple, and filled with powder made from the heads of the big old wooden "kitchen" matches in use at the time and a projectile made of metal, stone, glass, ceramic, wood, or whatever else might be available at the time and place, this weapon could indeed be lethal at close range.
It's kind of interesting to see the various bits of scrap and other materials used in the construction of this gun. The base for the nipple and the bolster on the barrel are old small hex nuts. The trigger guard, backstrap, and a little reinforcing strap on the left side of the gun are sheet copper. All parts are hand cut and filed to shape. I don't know what - if anything - was used for a breech plug, so I have never attempted to fire this pistol. Some guns are more for looking than for shooting, if you know what I mean! Who ever made it had a fairly good understanding of how a percussion firearm of the period worked, and it would be interesting to see the inside of the lockwork, however, I have no intention of dis-assembling the gun.
In all seriousness, awesome piece of history, Im glad no one, felon or lawman, was hurt by it.
