Interesting item indeed, Phil ...
Indeed a piece that falls into the 'usual unusual' items. Meaning that here and there, composites of this kind pop up, regardless of their non massive proliferation. Take French Dumonthier, who used to come in the market with variations on knife pistols, some embellished to a high end grade. Also we can see examples as sophisticated as the barrel and blade being made in one only piece.
Thinking of Jim's suggestion for this possibly been a setup made in Afghanistan, due to their duplication ability, i notice technical details that would never cross my mind would be object of their 'skilled' smiths attention, namely the Liege type engraving on the cylinder, the way screws are inset on the stock and the preoccupation to stamp an assembly number (#4) in all parts.
Also interesting that we can see out there (in a blog) a rusted example similar (equal) to the one posted, said to be found in a remote land, under the skeleton of a pirate. Go figure !
PS
Oh, i didn't see that Jim meanwhile came in with further considerations!
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