LeMat Revolver

Jean Alexandre LeMat's nine-shot revolver with a shotgun barrel for its cylinder pin, traced through its patents, its Confederate contracts, every model from the Krider prototypes to the carbines, and today's Pietta reproductions, ending with a percussion build path and the federal and Michigan law.

Firearms

LeMat Revolver · Deep Dive

LeMat Revolver

The famous flip-down hammer nose is not in LeMat's 1856 patent at all; it is a separate 1859 patent, and the original's “16-gauge” shot barrel is stamped 18-bore.

Jean Alexandre LeMat's nine-shot revolver with a shotgun barrel for its cylinder pin, traced through its patents, its Confederate contracts, every model from the Krider prototypes to the carbines, and today's Pietta reproductions, ending with a percussion build path and the federal and Michigan law.

Photo: LeMat Revolver (NMAH-ET2012-13983) by National Museum of American History

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    Volumes

    1. Vol 1 The Doctor, the Major and Two Patents — LeMat's Grapeshot Revolver from New Orleans to the 1859 Trials Who Jean Alexandre LeMat was, what his 1856 and 1859 patents actually claim, how Beauregard bought a quarter of the idea, and what two boards of officers said about it
    2. Vol 2 Paris, Liège, London and the Blockade — The LeMat in Confederate Service Eight thousand ordered and about fifteen hundred documented, a factory run by a naturalist, a purchasing agent who fought it, nine boxes of money in a consulate, and the officers who carried the guns that got through
    3. Vol 3 Variants and Identification — First Model, Second Model, London, Baby, Pinfire, Centerfire and Carbine How to tell one LeMat from another by the trigger guard, the lanyard ring, the loading lever, the barrel address and the proof marks, and why an original's shot barrel is 18-bore and not 20-gauge
    4. Vol 4 How It Works — Two Barrels, One Hammer and a Cylinder That Turns on a Gun Barrel The layout in section, the lockwork part by part using the maker's own parts names, the hammer head that chooses the barrel, the two ways the cylinder is held in line, and why the loading lever broke
    5. Vol 5 Loading and Shooting Both Barrels — Charges, Ball, Shot, Caps and What Accuracy to Expect Every charge figure attributed to the document that gives it: the 1859 board, the maker's current manual and the 2014 recommendation, set side by side; the loading sequence for the cylinder and the shot barrel; and the cap that must not sit high
    6. Vol 6 Strip, Clean, Maintain and Repair — Keeping a Two-Barrel Cap-and-Ball Revolver Working The maker's field-strip, what a detail strip has to respect, why the LeMat takes longer to clean than any other percussion revolver, the parts that wear and break on originals and reproductions, and what can be fixed at the bench
    7. Vol 7 Buying One — Originals at Auction and Reproductions Today Dated auction results and estimates with their sources, what moves an original's price, the replaced parts every catalogue lists, Pietta's four current models and what they cost in October 2026, and the accessories that verifiably exist
    8. Vol 8 Making One — Finishing a Reproduction, Period Finishes, and a Percussion LeMat from Scratch There is no kit; what a period finish on a LeMat actually looked like, part by part, from the catalogue record; and a machinist-level plan for building a nine-shot, two-barrel percussion revolver in a shop with CNC mills, printers and a laser, without ever making it a cartridge gun
    9. Vol 9 The Law — Antique, Replica, Cartridge Gun and Michigan The federal antique definition quoted in full, what it means for an original, a Pietta, a pinfire or centerfire LeMat and a home-built gun, why a cartridge LeMat's centre barrel is an NFA problem, and what Michigan's own statutes say