The Pirate Trading Co.

The British Heavy Dragoon Pistol's style dates back to the 1730's and remained in use for nearly a century. The barrel is 12" long and the overall length is 19 1/2". Weight is aprox. 4 pounds. These are typically  about .62 caliber smoothbore, but sometimes slight variations occure with larger or smaller bores. We do not guarantee specific bore size.

Although these were issued to horse troopers and expected to be used in combat, they were made in the fancy Rococo style that was in  European fashion in the 1700's. There is raised carving around the lock and triggerguard. Designed at roughly the same time as the Long Land Brown Bess Musket, this pistol incorporates a Brown Bess type "swell" of the stock at the entry pipe.
The brass buttcap has long ears which serve as reinforcement. The sideplate is also similar to the Long Land Brown Bess Musket.
These reproductions have unmarked locks, but do have line engraving around the edges of the plate and cock. 

$275.00

George Augustus Eliott was a Scotsman who commanded the 1st Light Horse and thus began the concept of Light Dragoons in the British Army. At the time, commanders of irregular forces could outfit their men as they chose, and Elliot went about designing improved weapons and gear for his Troop of Horsemen.

This is a light, handy pistol with a good feel to it when aiming. The barrel is 9" long and usually .62 caliber. They vary in bore diameter at times. Overall length is 16 1/2".
The furniture is all brass and very similar to civilian pistols of the era. These pistols saw their way onto many a Tall Ship  and into the hands of many a Pirate during this time period.

 $299.00

 Model 1773 French Pistol has brass furniture and was likely designed as a sea service pistol. They probably saw land use as well. The forged steel belt hook is another handy thing that makes this pistol very naval in design. The 9" barrel is .71 cal smoothbore. The tolerances for French guns allowed for bores as small as .67 and as large as .73 to still be within specifications. 

 $299.00

Model 1733 French Pistol. It is steel mounted with hand forged furniture. This pistol is 19 3/4" overall with a 12 3/4" barrel.   

 The 12 3/4" smoothbore barrels are in the .625 to .645 cal range. Comes with a forged steel belt hook. The lock is marked J.L. Carrier, who was a gunsmith at the St. Ettienne arsenal in the early 18th century.

 $299.00

Give your Pirate persona a bit of Highland flavor with one ( or even a brace)  of these beauties.

Called "Murdochs" today because  Scotsman , Murdoch was one of the best known makers of this style of pistol. All metal. A true crowd pleaser.

 $279.00

New Royal Highland Regiments Pistol. These were issued to the Highland Regiments who were enlisted in service to England in the Seven Years War and later the American Revolution. They vary from the "Murdoch" pistols  in that the barrels are round and tapered instead of faceted and instead of a silver oval on the grip there is an engraved rosette.     

This Pistol features a  simple belt clip. The top of the barrel is marked "RHR" for Royal Highlands Regiment.Typically the unit markings would go on top of the barrel and rack markings would go across the wrist of the pistol.     

Here you can see the details of the lock markings and the rosette. Most of the original pistols you run into will be marked "Bissell". He operated in Birmingham, so the officially issued Scottish pistols were actually English. Notice the line engraving on the lockplate and cock. The cock has a bevelled edge. 

$299.00

It is 19 1/2" long overall with a 12" barrel. The lock is marked 'Tower'
and has the common Crown and 'GR' stamps, as well as a broad arrow.
English Sea Service pistols of the period typically had a double-throated cock.
Brass furniture is simple and functional. Wooden rammer is supported by
a single thimble and no entry pipe.   

On the left side is a steel belt clip with an ordinance mark of a crown over a 6.
Sideplate is brass.

$299.00

The Ketland family produced flintlocks  in Birmingham England for several generations. This is your typical "trade pistol" of the late 18th and early 19th century.    

 The furniture is very similar to the Light Dragoon pistols of the era. The Ketlands also made guns for the British government under contract and presumably reused the molds for their civillian guns.

The barrel is marked "London", and is  8" long in .60 caliber as were the originals. It is a swamped brass barrel with a steel breechplug.

$299.00

These are real beauties!
14" barrel, 22 1/2" overall.  This Pistol is Not for the squeamish...nor ( in my opinion) the small statured. It is a BIG pistol.
Distinctive Germanic style raised carving. Unlike the curvy lines of English carving, the German gunsmiths were all about angles.

Lock is banana shaped, Germanic in origin, with flat topped frizzen. There is no external bridle.
In this photo, you can also see the long, sectioned finial on the triggerguard. Also a very German design.

Dstinctive Germanic sideplate. $299.00

Here is our doglock pistol. This piece represents the technology of the 1650-1680 era. The lock is an "English lock" The English lock was a transitional step in the evolution of the flintlock.  In the English lock, the pan cover and steel are incorporated into one part known in the period as the "battery" (we call it a frizzen today). This was  a major step in the evolution of the flintlock.

This is a large piece, with a 16" long barrel. These would have been carried in pistol buckets with the butts facing forward (away from the rider) so you would have the room to draw them.
Being an early lock design, this pistol doesn't use regular pistol flints as the geometry is copied directly from the original piece. The squared gunflint as we know it today was not yet popular when these were developed. Instead, they were built with a "gunspall" in mind, which was basically a chunk of flint. We reccomend using a full-sized musket flint in these.

In a left hand view, you can see that there is no sideplate, typical of 17th century guns. Instead there are three panhead screws to secure the lock.    

The 16" barrel is two staged and has 17th century markings.    

In a view of the bottom,  you can see the early style triggerguard and 17th century rack marking

$299.00

Here are our Brass and Steel Barreled Blunderbusses. The 1700's version of the modern Shotgun.

 Every Pirate  re-enactor should have one of these scatter guns.  These were great for clearing decks when boarding an enemy ship.

The combind styles of  each of these guns, gives your weapon a back story of it's own.

The Brass  barreled gun has a 18" three stage barrel with a double wedding ring. The whole thing weighs 6 lb.

The Steel  barreled gun has a 15" two stage barrel with a single wedding ring. It weighs 5.1 lb.     

Either Blunderbuss Feature an  English style Buttplate , but the thumb piece and sharp angle of the comb are Germanic, a typical mix of styles that are typical of the arms produced in
Holland and Belgium in the 17th-19th centuries where it was not unusual for gunmakers to mix style like this.     

It has an English style triggerguard , yet lacks any engraving on it.

Another indication that this Blunderbuss would have been Dutch in origin. The gunsmith would have simply made a pattern from an English piece but not wasted the time with fancy engraving as Dutch arms were built for fighting, not for show!     

A look down the flared muzzle.
Bore diameter is .730 as measured 3" down the barrel. 

$495.00

For the Golden Age of Piracy Enthusiast. This is a 1690's era English style blunderbuss. We currently are stocking the 18" barreled version, but also occasionally get them with 15" barrels.     
As with the Doglock pistol, there is no sideplate on the left side. Instead there are three truss headed screws, true to the era.     

This is an early 3-screw Queen Anne style doglock. It has a flat topped frizzen with an external bridle. It is a true doglock in that there is no half cock notch, the only "half cock" is the dog catch. The lockplate is not marked.

 All metal parts except the barrel are hand forged.     

The barrel is three-stage octagon to round with a cannon muzzle. The barrel tang screw comes up from the bottom, another early feature. This gun has a very beefy stock.    

A view of the buttplate. It is a correct flat steel style which would allow it to comfortably sit in a rack  on a ship.

Features an early style  triggerguard, seen on many early guns and it was used on sea service muskets well into the 18th century. 

It has a wooden rammer with a steel tip.

$495.00