HELP ID these (double barrel pistols)

[chromerunner]

These came by and was wondering what they are and possibly what kind of age...What kind of ballpark would something like this bring in todays market...Thanks

Only info i can tell is

Brown handle has ( ALIER EXCRL) on the barrel
White handle has (Ferreira 8)

They seem to have some age on them..They are centerfire with firing pins..

 

[OARNGESI]

no idea of vatue or history but the cool factor is definently there

 

[drunkensobriety]

Looks like a howdah pistol, or one of it's derivatives. Very very high caliber hard hitting double barrel rifle literally turned into a pistol and carried by african game hunters. Back in ye olden day when a safari rifle may well have been in .500 nitro, woof. Real wrist brakers: but if your options are come face to face with a charging lion - or fire that thing...

The ones you have look to be fairly old and in not ungodly horrid condition. I'd suggest you take a trek someplace and have them professionally appraised. Oh, for future references: you heard it from me - I officially do *NOT* recommend firing either of these till you've had a gunsmith check them out.

The cartridges these things fired were not for faint of heart even in full sized rifles, let alone rusted and potentially weakened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howdah_pistol

 

[chromerunner]

Also to add..I should have put something in the pic for size. They are not very big and they look like they would chamber something the size of a .38 or .32..

drunkensobriety thanks for the info..I have no plans to shoot them.

 

[Jim Watson]

These are known as Garruchas in South America.
They were made in Brazil until fairly recently, maybe still.
One source says they were popular for economy defense weapons because they were less regulated and less expensive than revolvers or autos.

 

[drunkensobriety]

Jim Watson is correct: I looked up the garruchas pistols, good call. Previously I'd never heard of it, much less seen one.

 

[chromerunner]

Any value in them?

 

[BCRider]

Of course. But maybe not as much as you'd like...

No info on the guns as to what cartridge they take? If they are something common, which should be the case since they apparently aren't all that old, it would be fun to take them out and see how they shoot.

I figured something odd was afoot when I saw and read that they were center fire. While the design harkens back to the old muzzle loading percussion style the simple fact of center fire just doesn't make sense. At least not until it's realized that they fit in a bit of a legal loophole in their country of origin.

 

[Ron James]

The modern version was imported by Rossie a few years ago. .22 calber and .32 .The popular caliber in South Americal is .320

 

[Jim K]

My understanding is that laws in some Latin American countries ban ownership of repeating handguns (revolvers or auto pistols) for "natives", so single or double barrel pistols are the only ones legally available to a large part of the population.

Jim

 

[Dr.Rob]

You need the rest of the steampunk costume for those.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I see these pretty often in the local pawn shops. Calibers are normally .22, .32, or .38. Markings, if they exist at all, are usually Belgian, Brazilian, Argentine, Chilean, or Peruvian. About half are so crude that I'm hesitant to touch them, as I'm afraid that they'll start shedding components.

The ones shown above are far above the norm.