An old post about my Howdah pistol.
"The howdah pistols were carried as defensive weapons whether out hunting or not and their primary use was against tigers or other big cats. These pistols can be single, double or quadruple barrel and in large calibers such as .577, .50, or 20 gauge for a smoothbore. Most were black powder arms.
If a tiger decided to attack they would often go for the mahout, the person riding just behind the elephant’s head who controls the elephant. One hunter said of the use of the howdah pistol “to be effective, the muzzle must be placed close to the tiger’s head, and care must be taken not to kill the mahout.” The howdah pistol was the weapon of last resort used in close encounters of the tiger kind at muzzle to muzzle point blank range."
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