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Originally Posted by Richard G
Two points I would like to make;-
It occurs to me that a butt of this type would sit more comfortably on your lap or thigh than that of a pistol if it was being held upright to load whilst on horseback.
Although the consensus is that these are mounted men's weapons none of these examples seem to to possess a slide or ring or any mechanism to tether the thing if not being held.
Just thoughts
Regards
Richard
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Good observation. I heard that it's very difficult to shoot accurately whilst sitting astride a highly strung and nervous animal, so the buckshot would be more effective than a single musketball. I guess these knee pistols are nothing but glorified sawn-off shotguns in reality? They would have been useful to shotgun messengers on stagecoaches too. They may have been considered too clumsy to be carried across the back when on a bumpy ride and therefore kept in saddle holsters?