Pedersoli Howdah Hunter Pistol

About the Pedersoli Howdah Hunter Pistol

The Pedersoli Howdah Hunter is a modern black-powder muzzleloading pistol built by Davide Pedersoli of Italy as a reproduction of the large-bore side-by-side howdah pistols carried by 19th-century British hunters and colonial officers in India and Africa. It pairs two side-by-side percussion barrels with twin locks and double triggers, chambered in the rifled .50 caliber shown here (also offered in rifled .58 caliber and smoothbore 20 gauge). Loaded from the muzzle with loose black powder and a patched round ball and fired by #11 percussion caps, it delivers heavy close-range stopping power in the tradition of the tiger-defense pistols it emulates.

The original howdah pistols were a hunter's last word against a wounded tiger clawing up onto the elephant-back platform, and Pedersoli's reproduction lets modern shooters feel that same thunderous, smoke-belching close-range authority.

Pedersoli Howdah Hunter Pistol specifications

Barrels are broach-rifled with 12 grooves and a 1-in-18 inch twist in the .50 caliber version. Furniture (locks, buttcap, wedge plates, trigger plate, trigger guard and tang) is color casehardened; the front sight is a brass bead. An optional detachable shoulder stock converts the pistol into a short carbine. Recommended starting load is roughly 25 grains of 2Fg black powder behind a .490 round ball with a .010 patch.