Dueling pistols broadly lacked rifling but this English one had a unique hidden form of rifling called ‘French Rifling’. The idea was during a duel the pistols would be inspected for rifling to ensure neither side was cheating. But French rifling wouldn’t be seen, allowing one party an unfair advantage.

French rifling wouldn’t go the full length of the barrel so all but a thorough examination would suggest the gun was smooth bore.

Jonathan Ferguson from the English Royal Armouries Museum suggested that the name came from the English associating French people as being underhanded, rather than French usage of the rifling.

Royal Armories: 11:59 https://youtu.be/p1fYUafNpUg?si=

  • @sramderEnglish
    19•8 months ago

    What if you get challenged by some douche Huh… fair point. I didn’t even think about that, I just sort of figured the guy with the ornate set rigged pistols was the douche. But if people were just lining up wanting to shoot me I’d start looking for an advantage at some point.

    • @FoshezeEnglish
      5•8 months ago

      At the same time, if people are lining up to get a chance to shoot you then you just might be a douche.

      • @sramderEnglish
        5•8 months ago

        Yeah… I’m starting to think that we’re just not going to figure this out with reason alone ;-)