52© 
P I S 
face, and admits the fire quicker into the prime in the 
pan; the pan being grooved or raifedas this is, would be 
found very ufeful in mulket-locks: in the prefent way 
they are left flat, and after firing a few rounds the filth of 
the powder is collected againft the fence, fo that the 
hammer cannot joint down on the pan, which will admit 
wet or damp air into the prime, and which is a great hin¬ 
drance to its firing: and fometimes the priming is alfo 
loft out of the pan. 
Fourthly, The fcrew of the lock being moved farther 
back from the breech of the barrel, will be a remedy 
againft fomany fcrews breaking, which hold in the locks, 
and keep the flocks from being fplit on the back fide; 
both of which are great evils. 
Fifthly, The rammer being fwivelled will be found 
advantageous to cavalry, as the men cannot lofe them, 
which is often done in the prefent way; befides, they 
ram the charge home more certainly and quicker. The 
rammer might be left in the barrel when loaded with 
ball-cartridge, and it will keep the ball in its proper 
place. In the prefent mode of loading, from the motion 
of the horfe, the ball is fo ffiaken, that it becomes loofe 
in the barrel, and is even frequently left in the holfter. 
In taking the piftol out of the holfter to prefent, the 
rammer will fall out of the way of the ball when fired, 
ffiould there not be time to return the rammer into its 
proper place ; and, when fired, both may be put into 
the holfter together without any difficulty. The touch- 
hole being made wide to prime itfelf will be found of 
great utility to cavalry. In the prefent way of priming 
and loading on horfeback, owing to the wind blowing, 
and the motion of the horfe, great part of the powder is 
fcattered before it is put into the barrel; and, owing to the 
right quantity of powder not being put in the barrel, and 
its bad ramming, the piftol is of little ufe when fired. 
It might be advanced, that great part of the force of the 
powder would be loft, by having the wide touch-hole ; 
but the whole charge being now put into the barrel will 
make up that deficiency, and the fame quantity will be 
at all times alike in the barrel. It may be loaded alfo in 
the night if required, which in the prefent mode would 
be found very difficult to effedf. The two holes in the 
lock-plate, one under the main-fpring, the other over 
.^the hammer-fpring, with an iron pin or nail put into 
them, will keep off the preffure of the fprings, w’nilft the 
work is taken off to be cleaned and put on again, as the 
fprings do not require to be taken off every time the 
work wants cleaning and oiling, which cannot be done 
until the fprings are taken off in the prefent way of 
cleaning, and which is performed by means of cramps of 
various forts, by which the fprings are frequently fet or 
elfe broken : in the way above defcribed, they will not 
be liable to either injury. 
The following references to the preceding engravingwill 
illuftrate thefe remarks.Fig.9 is a profile of the whole taken 
together, in which the parts which are common to all piftols 
are too evident to need enumeration. To proceed, there¬ 
fore, to the improvements: A A is the ram-rod Aiding 
through a ringa; fee alfo fig.10,which is pivoted into a for- 
ked-piece B, jointed to the barrel at C : the fwivel has an 
univerfal motion, fo that the ramrod can be put by into its 
focket D, fig. 9, or put down into the barrel; the fork B in 
that cafe being turned over the muzzle, and the ring a com¬ 
ing exaftlyin the centre thereof. E is the hammer raifed 
towards the cock for the reafons pointed out before: e is 
the pan to which the hammer fits down very clofely; and 
/is a projecting piece of the hammer formed to a circle 
from the centre of the hammer-joint; this fence enclofes 
the joint and fpring, and keeps the fire and powder from 
them : g is the hammer-fpring, with a roller at the end, 
which aCts upon the hammer. The interior of the lock 
is fliown in the other figures : d, fig. 12, is the main-fpring, 
and i is the hole to receive a nail, or iron pin, to ftay the 
fpring while the lock is taken to pieces: k is the conneft- 
Vol.XX. No. 1388. 
P I s 
ing iron, which communicates the power of the fpring to 
the tumbler: ?n is the notch in the tumbler, into which 
the fear n is received when at half-cock; the notch for 
full-cock is dotted under 0, in the pofition of fig. 12. the 
lock is prevented from firingby the form of the notch m, 
in the ufual manner of half-cock ; and the cock is pre¬ 
vented from being drawn further back by the tooth p of 
the tumbler, which is caught by the bolt q , prefl'ed for¬ 
wards by the fpring and lever r, fituated beneath the fear 
and its fprings. Before the cock can be fet at full-cock, 
the bolt mult be withdrawn by its tail t, fig. 9. and it is 
then retained by a fpring-catch, fig. 5. fcrewed over the 
fear-fpring; its tooth R catches a notch in the bolt when 
drawn back, and holds it. The cock is now at liberty to 
be fet full, and fired in the ufual way; when this hap¬ 
pens, the inclined wedge s of the fear is thruft under the 
part T, fig. i, of the fpring-catch, and raifes it up ; this 
relieves the bolt q from the tooth R, fig. 13. and is ad¬ 
vanced towards the tumbler by its fpring r, fig. 12, ready 
to prevent the lock being full-cocked, unlefs the bolt t, 
fig. 9, is firft withdrawn : u, fig. 12, is a loofe piece fitted 
to move upon a centre in the tumbler; its ufe is, when 
at full-cock, to cover the notch m for half-cock, and pre¬ 
vent the fear m catching therein when fired, for it is 
adapted to hear off' the point of the fear ; by the inclined 
form of its end, it readily flips out of the way when the 
cock is drawn back to fet either to half or full-cock : X, 
figs. 11 and 12, is the hole for the fcrew which goes 
through the ftock to faften the lock; the other end of 
the lock is held in by a hook Y, fattened to the plate 
which catches under the head of a fcrew, fcrewed into the 
ftock withinfide the lock; this fcrew need not be touched 
to take off the lock, as it readily unhooks when the fcrew 
at X is removed. 
Every recruit, when he joins the horfe-drill, fhould be 
made perfectly acquainted with the handling of his piftol 
according to rule, and of firing corre&ly at a mark. To 
this end, he muft be taught to draw, load, fire, and re¬ 
turn his piftol, byword of command; as to which, fee 
James’s Military Difiionary. 
To PIS'TOL, v. a. To flioot with a piftol.—Bafe lord ! 
I’ll pijlol thee. Beaum. and FI. Love's Cure. —He was al- 
moli mad with the pain, and had a mind to ha vepijloll’d 
himfelf. Aubrey's Mifcell. 
PISTOL BA'Y, a bay on the northern extremity of 
Newfoundland. 
PISTO'LE, /. [French.] A gold coin of many coun¬ 
tries and many degrees of value.— I fliall difburden him 
of many hundred pijloles, to make him lighter for the 
journey. Dryden's Span. Friar. 
In Spain, the piftole of exchange, as a money of account 
in foreign exchange (i. e. doblon de plala), was valued at 
32 reals of old plate, or 60 reals 8 maravedis vellon; but 
in commercial tranfaftions within the country, it was 
reckoned only at 60 reals. After the year 1772, when a 
new coinage took place, the gold coins current in Spain 
were as follow : the dobloon of 8 efcudos, or quadruple 
piftole, which paffes for 310 reals vellon; the dobloon of 
4 efcudos, or double piftole for 160 ; the dohloon de oro, 
or piftole for 80 ; the efcudo for 40 ; and the coronilla, 
or veinten de oro, for 20. In 1786, the ftandard of the 
gold was reduced to 21 carats for the different doubloons 
and their divifions, and to 2o|- carats for the coronilla, or 
veinten de oro. The quadruple piftole, or dobloon of 8 
efcudos, coined fince 1786, contains 366| troy grains of 
fine gold, and is therefore worth 3I. 4s. g|d. valued in 
Engliffi gold coin; and the fub-divifions of the quad¬ 
ruple are in proportion. By the allay of the London 
mint, the weight of the quadruple is 17 dwt. 8 gr. and its 
finenefs 45 gr. worfe than Engliffi ftandard : hence its 
value in Engliffi gold coin is 3I. 4s. o£. The value of 
gold in the Spaniffi coins is to that of filver as 16 to 1. 
The weight and fterling of the different Spaniffi gold 
coins are as follow. 
6 T Quadruple 
