This 7mm Belgian needle fire breech loading pistol would have been used for target shooting in one’s parlor, presumably on rainy days.
This particular example has the ‘needle’ like long narrow metal firing pin is broken, a common problem in needle fire designs.
It would have used a low power cartridge for the purpose of indoor shooting. This design is one of many that enabled the historical fad.
Royal Armouries Video: [13:27]
Your comment reminded me of this post, where someone connected jezail rifles to Sherlock, or Watson rather. I thought it was the same Holmes fan for a moment.
https://lemmy.world/post/9420795
That said sounds like our dear detective wasn’t just eccentric but rather trendy and down with the hip new thing, of the day.
Michael Crichton wrote the novel and directed the movie ‘The Great Train Robbery.’ Both are good, but the novel has the bonus of being written as a history book. The crime and characters are fictional, but he presents them in their actual context. For instance, a prison escape has long asides on building prisons.
And yes, Holmes was supposed to be very up-to-date. James Bond was cutting edge when he was written, as was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.