History
Along with the technical aspects of pinfire arms it is very interesting to know more about the gunsmiths who created an enormous variation in weapons. On the Belgian website Littlegun (see Links) you'll find an enormous amount of information on this subject. Oddly enough hardly any information about the users of these arms is to be found on internet and in libraries.
Because the trade in (pinfire) arms was hardly regulated in the time of production the civilian population could easily purchase one or more. For instance, these arms were often carried by cyclists who had to defend themselves on their velocipede against stray dogs and bumpkins. For this purpose a special revolver was developed; the "VeloDog".
Below you will find some pages from a gunsmith's brochure (S. de Jager from Haarlem, The Netherlands) depicting a "Zakrevolver Lefaucheux" (Lefaucheux pocket revolver) at the price of DFl.8.50 (€3.86) !
