The streets of Paris must have been a dangerous place for Frenchmen during the 1870s.
That is, at least dangerous enough that a Belgian arms designer by the name of Louis Dolne created a notorious combination gun that offered the best attributes of a revolver, a dagger and a set of brass knuckles. This pocket-sized ordnance gadget, dubbed the “Apache” after French underworld figures called Les Apaches, could be wielded most quickly in knuckle-dusting mode, but firing the pinfire cartridges on either of these examples required unlatching the revolver frame to free the folding trigger. One of our two examples, loaned by DJT, bears markings for a Liverpool retailer of guns that operated at that address from 1886 to 1913.
Come view these exotic handguns in our current temporary exhibition, “Steampunk Guns,” at the NRA National Firearms Museum.
The NRA National Firearms Museum at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo.; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M.; each have fine selections of historic arms on display. Admission to each is free, and donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, visit nramuseums.com, phone (703) 267-1600 or email [email protected].
