Pistols were considered requisite items for the Highland soldier as early as the 1730s. By the 1740s the elegant pistol styles of Christie & Murdoch (armourers of Doune, Stirlingshire) had became the most sought after amongst Highland officers. The unique elements of the Doune pistols were the scroll or rams horn butt, fluted barrels at the breech and the octagonal flared muzzles. Soon pistol makers all across Scotland (and in England) began to copy the styles of Doune.
The replica offered here represents one of the many copies made at that time. One surviving original, same style as the replica, is marked "RHR" on the barrel, standing for the Royal Highland Regiment (becoming the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment "Black Watch"). Many of the pistols carried by the men of the 42nd during the French and Indian War were actually made in Birmingham by Isaac Bissell. The steel pistol was used in the ranks of Highland Regiments into the 1780s, when a less expensive (and less elegant) bronze pistol began to challenge the dominance of the steel version in the ranks of Britain's Highland Regiments. By the mid-1790s Highland Regiments had abandoned their pistols.
Highland sergeants and men wore one steel pistol under the left arm, hung through the pistol's belt hook on a thin buff leather belt.
Further Reading
18th and 19th Century Nicknames or Slang for Pistols
How to Mount a Flint on American and British Muskets: A History
