Fewer production numbers may be unflattering at the time of an invention, but this makes the guns rare and in demand for LeMats for sale. As humans we love getting our hands on something many others cannot. The rarity, coupled with the novelty, drives the price of the firearm up on the secondary market. The barrel markings are engraved, which, while stylish, required extra skill and added cost. Later production revolvers switched to cheaper roll-stamps.
see also mateba auto revolverThe LeMat revolver is one man’s innovative effort to give European and American soldiers the ultimate in single-handed, close-quarters firepower. Patented in 1856 by Jean Alexandre LeMat, a Frenchman living in New Orleans at that time, the revolver was a cap and ball muzzle-loader featuring a central smoothbore shotgun barrel, which also served as the axis for an enlarged revolver cylinder, typically .42-cal, that fired down a longer 6.75-inch parallel barrel. The shooter could switch between the shotgun and the revolver by adjusting a pivoting striker on the hammer. However, if you’re unable to acquire or afford the original, reproductions are available from us.