It is interesting to note that the three most advanced self-contained, metallic cartridge revolvers to see use during the American Civil War were all French designs, the Model 1854 Lefaucheux, the Model 1859 Perrin, and the Model 1860 Société Pindault & Cordier, better known as the “Raphael.” Although the Smith & Wesson Number 1 and Number 2 revolvers were also metallic cartridge guns and certainly were carried by more men than those armed with the Perrin and Raphael combined, those rimfire cartridges were quite anemic being .22RF Short and .32RF Short, respectively. Only the three French cartridge revolvers were close to being “man stopping” military calibers.
Next to the M1860 Société Pindault & Cordier “Raphael” revolver, the M1859 Perrin revolver is probably the least often encountered of all imported Civil War handguns. Like the Raphael, the Perrin was a French designed, self-contained, cartridge revolver with a double action lock and a 6-shot cylinder. While the Rafael was a “traditional double action,” in that it could be fired in either single action or double action modes, the Perrin was what would be called a “double action only” revolver today, as the action was only actuated by the long, heavy pull of the trigger, and with no facility to cock the hammer manually.
The Perrin fired a very advanced 12 mm (approximately .45 caliber), internally primed, self-contained metallic cartridge. The cartridge had a thick rim and, while the primer was not visible from the outside bottom of the casing as it is with modern center fire cartridges, it was a center fire design. The patent covering this revolver’s design, but most especially its cartridge design, was granted in France to Perrin & Delmas in 1859. As noted, this gun was strictly a double action design, with a spurless hammer, similar to the M1851 Adams patent percussion revolvers. In fact, the gun featured an Adams style safety spring on the left hand side of the frame. By lightly depressing the trigger, and thus slightly lifting the hammer from the cylinder’s rear, the safety spring would automatically make a small extension enter the frame, creating a hammer block that kept the hammer from contacting the cartridges. This also allowed the cylinder to rotate freely for loading or unloading. Pulling the trigger to fire the gun automatically released the safety, with it rebounding out of the hammer’s path, allowing the falling hammer to strike the cartridge in the cylinder’s chamber.
The Perrin had an interesting hidden rod used to eject empty cases from the cylinder. The rod was stored within the center portion of the cylinder arbor and could be withdrawn, and then rotated via a cam on the barrel, to align it with a cylinder chamber on the right hand side. This placed the rod in the correct position to push empty cases out of their chambers. The storage system protected the slender, and somewhat delicate, rod from damage when it was not in use, and allowed a more streamlined design without an ejector rod or housing mounted on the revolver’s frame or barrel. The ejector rod also kept the cylinder arbor pin in place when it was being stored; taking the ejector rod out of storage freed the arbor pin to be withdrawn from the frame, allowing the cylinder to be removed. This same system would be employed less than a decade later on several of the early P. Webley & Sons cartridge revolvers, such as their Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) and Bull Dog models. Sights were rudimentary, with a simple notch machined into the upper rear of the frame for a rear sight and a brass post near the muzzle serving as the front sight.
Perrin revolvers were marked with the patentees’ name and with a serial number on the major components. Collectors have separated the Perrin revolvers into three “Types,” which appear to be chronological in their evolution. Both Types I and II have open top frames, while the Type III has a top strap. Variations between these revolver types are further indicated by the style of loading gate system. Type I gates are rather thin and hinged at the top, swinging outward and upward. Type II gates are somewhat thicker, also hinged at the top, but swing to the rear of the revolver to open. The Type III gate is thicker and more robust, hinged at the bottom, swinging down and away from the frame.
It is worth noting that there is little good information about the Perrin revolver published in English, and sources vary as to the actual model designation: M1859 or M1860, as well as to their actual caliber; 11 mm or 12 mm. While most U.S. sources have long referred to the gun as the M1860, the recent publication French Service Handguns by Eugene Medlin & Jean Huon refers to the pistol as the M1859 and, as they seem to be the most definitive word on the subject, I will defer their opinion.
The issue of caliber, 11 mm versus 12 mm, is somewhat more problematic. In this case, Medlin & Huon come down on the 11 mm side of things. Measuring extant examples shows that the chamber mouths are typically about 12 mm while the bores measure approximately 11.5 mm. This suggests the reference to 12 mm really establishes the outside diameter of the case, rather than the bullet’s diameter. As case diameter was a common way to establish “caliber” for cartridges during the period (case diameter versus bullet diameter) I will continue to use the 12 mm designation. This system of measuring and naming cartridges is why the “.38 Special” uses a .357” diameter bullet; the name is derived from the case diameter, and we have not seen fit to discontinue calling revolvers with .357 caliber bores “.38s.” It is further worth noting that according to the Springfield Armory Museum Collection Record regarding Perrin revolvers:
We have of this writing five Perrins in the collection. No two are quite alike, having minor variations in rear sights, grips, loading gates and rebating of frame as well as barrel lengths.
Other authors have noted that barrel lengths tend to vary between 5 ½ inches and 6 ½ inches and that the earliest production guns have variations in rifling with 4, 6, 8, and 9 groove examples having been noted. Eventually it appears that the 6-groove system was settled upon as standard. The majority of the revolvers were finished “in the white” with bright polished metal and had smooth one-piece walnut grips. However, some examples are known with special finishes, including blued, nickel plating (a very new technology in the 1860s), as well as gold damascene. Checkered grips are not uncommon either, although smooth wood certainly seem to predominate on extant examples.
We can document the sale of 550 Perrin revolvers, from a contract for 1,000 total revolvers, to the U.S. Government by arms speculator Alexis Godillot. Godillot listed “New York & Paris” as his business addresses and delivered the revolvers at a price of $20.00 each, including 50 rounds of the proprietary Perrin ammunition with each revolver. Godillot made his initial delivery of 350 Perrin revolvers on Jan. 6, 1862, then delivered another 100 on March 28, 1862. The final 100 Perrins he provided were delivered on May 31, 1862. Interestingly, the Holt- Owens Commission, which had been established in early 1862 to audit and adjust all contracts, orders, and claims on the War Department in respect to ordnance, arms and ammunition, actually canceled Godillot’s contract for Perrin revolvers in April 1862, due to his inability to deliver them in a timely fashion. However, they did allow the final delivery of 100 guns on May 31, even after cancellation of the contract, due to the fact that the arms are needed by the government, and are of good quality, and of reasonable price. On May 31, he also delivered 1,500 Lefaucheux pinfire revolvers, but no further deliveries of Perrins are noted in US Ordnance documents.
U.S. Ordnance Department documents show that 1 Perrin was in storage at the New York Arsenal on Dec. 31, 1862. An additional 249 Perrins were in storage in at the Ordnance Depot in Louisville, Ky., on the same date. This indicates that the other 300 pistols that had been delivered were likely in the field and in use during this time frame. Ordnance returns of Nov. 5, 1864, show the single Perrin still at the New York Arsenal, and that 187 Perrins were in store as well. It is not clear what happened to all the other Perrin revolvers the Ordnance Department purchased, but on June 19, 1901, the New York Arsenal sold 368 Perrin revolvers to Francis Bannerman and Company for $0.2765 (yes, only 27.65 cents) each. It is likely that the other 182 revolvers were lost or stolen during or after the war, with some likely going home with the soldiers to whom they were issued. Due to their proprietary ammunition, these arms were probably of limited utility in a civilian world where the French made cartridges were not likely to have been readily available. While no specific list of Civil War used examples by serial number is known, from those that have a “Civil War” association it appears most have serial numbers under 1,000 and all are the open frame, Type I or Type II variants. Much like the Perrin’s contemporary, the Lefaucheux revolver, it appears deliveries were of available guns on hand and no systematic attempt to keep the deliveries within a specific serial number block or range was attempted by the furnishers.
This M1859 Perrin Revolver shown in the accompanying pictures is a classic example of a Civil War period Type I revolver that may well have been part of the Godillot deliveries. The markings are typical of Civil War period Perrin revolvers. The right side of the frame, forward of the cylinder is marked in two lines: PERRIN / & Cie Bvt, indicating the gun was patented by Perrin & Company. On the left side of the frame is the serial number, over the typical Perrin “sunburst” motif over the production location, resulting in a marking that reads in three lines: No 605 / * / PARIS. The cylinder is clearly marked No 605 as well but is otherwise unmarked. The same serial number also appears on the bottom of the barrel, hidden by the ejector rod/cylinder arbor combination. The barrel is just shy of 6 inches long, measuring 5 15/16 inches, fitting squarely in the middle of the 5 ½ inch to 6 ½ inch barrel lengths that are typically noted.
Although this is a fairly early production revolver, the bore is rifled with the 6-groove rifling system that would become the norm for these revolvers. It is quite likely that this is one of the earliest 6-groove guns, as I previously owned Perrin #485 and it had a 9-groove bore. The revolver is equipped with the less commonly encountered checkered walnut one piece grip, and retains the original, small diameter, lanyard ring in the iron butt cap.
It is worth noting that Fredrick Todd’s seminal work American Military Equipage 1851–1872 lists the Perrin as being a possible secondary Confederate purchase, in addition to being a U.S. purchase. He makes the same assertion regarding Raphael revolvers. Unfortunately, Todd provides no substantiation for his claim, other than the theory that these French made guns might have found favor in New Orleans since that population had a major ethnically French contingent. These revolvers do not appear on the market regularly and really represent a true value in Civil War arms collecting, as their prices do not usually reflect their true scarcity.
Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in fine & collectible military arms from the Colonial Period through WWII. He operates College Hill Arsenal, a web-based antique arms retail site.
A long time collector & researcher, Tim has been a contributing author to two major book projects about Civil War era arms including The English Connection and a new book on southern retailer marked and Confederate used shotguns. Tim is also a featured Arms & Militaria appraiser on the PBS Series Antiques Roadshow.