Allen & Wheelock Lipfire Army Revolver

About the Allen & Wheelock Lipfire Army Revolver

The Allen & Wheelock Lipfire Army Revolver is a six-shot, single-action, center-hammer revolver chambered for the proprietary .44 Allen Lipfire self-contained metallic cartridge. Manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts from about 1860 until November 1863, it featured a 7.5-inch half-octagon, half-round barrel, a bored-through cylinder, smooth two-piece walnut grips, and a distinctive cam-action trigger guard that operated the cartridge ejector. Production ceased after the firm was found to infringe the Rollin White bored-through cylinder patent held by Smith & Wesson, making it one of the rarer American cartridge revolvers of the Civil War period.

Ethan Allen devised the lipfire cartridge to sidestep Smith & Wesson's lock on the rimfire patent, placing the priming compound in a small lip on the case head. Though clever, the design still relied on a bored-through cylinder, and a patent-infringement suit shut down production, leaving only a few hundred examples and making the Lipfire Army a prized Civil War-era collector's revolver today.

Allen & Wheelock Lipfire Army Revolver specifications

The Lipfire used a unique cartridge with the priming lip protruding from the case rim, struck by a notched hammer; this circumvented Smith & Wesson's rimfire patent but still infringed the Rollin White bored-through cylinder patent. Many surviving examples were later converted to percussion after production was enjoined.