Welcome to as we speak’s Picture of the Day! Right here we’ve an Allen & Wheelock Heart Hammer Lipfire Navy revolver manufactured within the early 1860s. A technological dead-end – good thought executed effectively that arrived at precisely the flawed time.
The lipfire cartridge was Allen & Wheelock’s try and dodge Rollin White’s bored-through cylinder patent, which Smith & Wesson had locked up tight. As a substitute of drilling chambers all over, the lipfire used a protruding rim or “lip” on the cartridge that sat in a groove lower into the rear of the cylinder. The firing pin struck this lip to ignite the priming compound inside. On paper, it labored. The design prevented patent infringement whereas providing the velocity and comfort of metallic cartridges over cap-and-ball loading.
The issue was timing and practicality. By the early 1860s, the Civil Warfare was creating huge demand for revolvers, however the army wasn’t excited about adopting a proprietary cartridge system that solely labored in a single firm’s weapons. Percussion revolvers just like the Colt 1860 Military had been confirmed, obtainable in big numbers, and used ammunition already within the provide chain. Civilian patrons weren’t way more . Why put money into a lipfire revolver when percussion weapons had been cheaper and extra dependable, or when you could possibly get a Smith & Wesson that used normal rimfire cartridges?
The lipfire cartridge by no means caught on commercially, and as soon as Rollin White’s patent expired in 1869, there was no cause for anybody to hassle with different designs. Allen & Wheelock didn’t make these in big numbers, and most that had been made most likely acquired transformed or scrapped as soon as lipfire ammunition turned not possible to seek out.
Most of our POTDs make the most of photos from our associates at Rock Island Public sale Firm, the premier firearms public sale in the US. Take a while to browse their present auctions – who is aware of, perhaps you’ll discover a piece of historical past to take house!
“Scarce Allen & Wheelock Heart Hammer Lipfire Navy Revolver.” Rock Island Public sale, www.rockislandauction.com/element/1049/337/allen-wheelock-center-hammer-lipfire-navy-revolver. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
