ALLEN & WHEELOCK Side Swing
The Side
Swing single shot pistols are very simple pocket pistols where the barrel swings
to the side for loading and unloading. These pistols have a steel frame and
barrel which is either fully octagonal or half-octagonal / half-round. Barrel
length vary depending on the model.
The
production of the Side-Swing pistols started around 1861 and continued well into
the E.Allen & Co period.
Ethan
Allen had patented the case ejector for this type of Side-Swing under patent
US46617. The patent date corresponds to the early days of E.Allen & Co era,
while the mechanism described in the patent had been in production for years.
The
patent date is therefore not mentioned in the marking: ALLEN &
WHEELOCK/WORCESTER, MASS.
The
pistols have been produced in both 22rf and 32rf.
Only the
.32 models have 3 frame variations: 1) without barrel overlap; 2) with short
barrel overlap; 3) with long barrel overlap. The barrel overlap undoubtedly
makes the pistol more robust, but it is not known which of the models was
manufactured first.
The shown
model is with long barrel overlap.
bpgcollector
