Lancaster pistol

Charles Lancaster received a patent for oval bore rifling, a form of rifling which contains two opposing twisted grooves on each side of the barrel, which he used in Lancaster pistols.

• Name — Lancaster pistol • Origin — United Kingdom • Type — Multi-barrel pistol • Is Ranged — yes • Is Uk — yes • Wars — Anglo-Zulu War First Boer War Mahdist War Second Boer War World War I • Designer — Charles W. Lancaster and Henry Thorn • Design Date — c. 1860 • Production Date — mid to late 19th century • Cartridge —.38 S&W.450 Adams.455 Webley.476 Enfield.577 Snider • Caliber —.380 inch.450 inch.455 inch.577 inch • Barrels — 2 or 4 • Action — Break-action, double action only, revolving striker • Feed — one cartridge in each barrel

Its ammunition had greater stopping power than the contemporary Beaumont–Adams and Colt Navy revolvers, making it ideal for colonial warfare. When facing charging tribesmen like the Zulus or Ansar (the so-called Sudanese Dervishes), more modern ammunition tended to go straight through the enemy who would keep going. What was needed was a heavy lead bullet that would lodge in their body and bring them down. One famous user was the photographer and film maker Lieutenant Colonel John M. B. Stanford, who killed a fanatical assegai-wielding Sudanese Ansar with a Lancaster pistol while working as a war correspondent at the Battle of Omdurman. It was eventually displaced by the various Webley revolvers in the late 19th century as revolvers became more reliable and faster to reload, thus removing many of the advantages of the multi-barrel design.