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CONNECTICUT ARMS AND MANUFACTURING CO. HAMMOND .44 RIMFIRE “BULLDOG” PISTOL, CA. 1865-1868

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Brothers Henry and Lewis Hammond tried to enter the Civil War military arms business by incorporating in mid-1863 and developing a breech-loading single-shot cartridge system. This met delays in getting a patent, finally being granted only in late October 1864. Attempts at a military contract for longarms were unsuccessful, but they had a little more luck with their Deringer pistol, which used the same sort of swivel breach block that pivots to the left for inserting a cartridge after placing the hammer at half-cock and depressing a button on top of the block. The button cross-hatched, but also slotted to function as a rear sight, and the block is fitted with an automatic ejector that will partially lift out the cartridge case for removal.

The pistol had some variations in barrel length and caliber, but this is their standard production with 4-inch barrel, gutta-percha (thermoplastic) checkered grips, chambered for the .44 rimfire cartridge. The pistol is elegantly styled, at least by the taste of the day: the rear of the pistol features very round contours with flat-sided but bag-style grips (of then modern thermoplastic) with rounded butt, and rounded sides to the receiver. The barrel, however, is octagon, with the bottom flats having rounded ends giving the impression of flutes in the frame and the barrel giving the appearance of narrowing by a tapering top barrel flat that comes to a point beyond the front sight, effectively making it seven-sided at the muzzle. Along with the use of a spur trigger, those smooth lines may also have given it some appeal to the practical-minded looking for pistol that could be smoothly drawn from a pocket, but the pistol was also robustly constructed to handle the .44 caliber round.

This rates near Fine for condition with smooth metal overall, excellent grips, with no color to the case-hardened frame, which shows as gray with darker gray spotting, but with lots of original thin barrel blue, showing some fingerprints and stains, but about 70 or 80 percent there, and sharp markings. The barrel address reads, “CONNECTICUT ARMS & MANF’G CO NAUBUC CONN.” The breechblock is marked over the forward top edge, “PATENTED OCT 25. 1864.” The grips have a tight fit, no chips or cracks, good brown color, and crisp checkering. Mechanics function well.

We have not removed the grips to check the serial number on the frame, and production data is not available, but estimates fall under 8,000 in total. They are generally assumed to have been introduced in 1865, though the ejector and rear sight did not receive patents until mid-1866 and very early 1867 according to Tim Prince, though they may have pushed forward anyway, with the obvious October 1864 patent date deemed a sufficient warning. In any case, production was very limited in number and in time. Henry Hammond reportedly filed some later firearms related patents, but the NRA museum notes that production ceased in 1868, due to a mortgage problem and Mike Helms notes the company assets were sold off in 1872. Many of the pistols, however, remained in dealer inventories, advertised for sale into the 1880s, qualifying this a nice example of a Deringer that would go well in a display of such vest and coat pocket pistols carried for personal defense in the early west. The pistol has acquired the nickname of the “bulldog” among collectors. This may be a faulty recollection of the barrel inscription “bull dozer” found on some of these, but either nickname is a reminder of its coercive and persuasive abilities at close range.     [sr][ph:m/L]

DISCLAIMER: All firearms are sold as collector's items only - we do not accept responsibility as to the shooting safety or reliability of any antique firearm. All firearms are described as accurately as possible, given the restraints of a catalog listing length. We want satisfied customers & often "under" describe the weapons. Any city or state regulations regarding owning antique firearms are the responsibility of the purchaser. All firearms are "mechanically perfect" unless noted, but again, are NOT warranted as safe to fire.

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