Volcanic Navy - The Lever Action Rocket Pistol Perfect for The Space Cowboy (1855-1856)
This pistol was made by the Volcanic Arms Company in New Haven, CT. It notable fired caseless .41 caliber rocket ball ammunition.
This would ultimately lead to the downfall of the design as the slow acceleration of the rocket ball cartridge gave it a muzzle velocity of ~260 fps (79 m/s). Meaning at point blank range it would likely fail to reach lethal velocity, somewhere hurting it's ability to be marketed for self defense.
2 replies
The ammo is honestly more interesting then the gun. They're basically Minnie balls with a hollow cavity in the end covered with wax and a cap. Fun fact that same style tape cap that was used in 50s style cap guns was actually a cap developed for actual firearms.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Ball
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_tape_primer
The rocket balls on the volcanics are hilariously underpowered and a big reason for their failure despite the high capacity. But I'd never heard of the tape primers and the adaptation to cap guns. Cool stuff.