Allen's Sidehammer Lipfire Revolvers
Commercial era:
Allen & Wheelock
E.Allen & Co
General information
The Sidehammer Lipfire Pocket revolver is a rather unique design with an overhead rack and pinion ejector system. The revolver is only made in the 32 Lipfire caliber and with a barrel length of either 4, 5 or 6″. Most of these revolvers were manufactured in the Allen & Wheelock period, having the 1858 and July.9.1860 patent dates. Much scarcer are the Ethan Allen & Co era revolvers with barrel markings having the 1858 and Sep.24.1861 patent dates.
There are two variations of the unique case ejector system. One with a square ejector housing and an ejector tube covering fully the ejector. The second variant has a beveled ejector housing and a shorter ejector tube allowing part of the ejector to protrude. This variant is only known to the Allen & Wheelock production.
Ethan Allen & Co Side-Hammer Lipfire Revolver
This revolver is from the E.Allen period with the 1861 patent date. When lipfire cartridges became scarcer, these types of revolvers were converted to fire the more common rimfire cartridges. This was done by milling off a small slice from the cylinder top, as is the case with this example.
