Kentucky Pistol - Origin?

[SwearNoAllegiance]

I've decided to buy my first black powder gun.

For my first run with this type of weapon, I am going to buy a Traditions Kentucky Pistol. It's the right price and I like the way it looks.



I'm really hoping to get hooked. If so, I'm going to buy a Pedersoli Harper's Ferry Flintlock Pistol next.



Anyways, I want to know what the deal is with the "Kentucky Pistol." They are made by several companies and have a rifle version. Wikipedia has no info and Google turns up niente. Does anyone know if this is a replica of a pistol made in Kentucky back in the day? What its overall use was?

 

[4v50 Gary]

There were pistols, but what is depicted is a rather plain interpretation.

 

[arcticap]

That's an interesting question.
Read the entire following page about the Kentucky rifle and you'll also get a better idea about what the Kentucky pistol's name is all about.
What purpose did it serve?
Well I guess that it was a backup to the single shot Kentucky rifle. What ever reasons people use pistols for today must have been what the early settlers used pistols for back then too.

In any case, this question was supposedly put to rest in the 1960's by the Kentucky and Pennsylvania Historical Societies. They settled the matter with a shooting competition, winner gets naming rights. The Kentucky team handily won the contest.

It is curious to note that a Kentucky Pistol also exists. This is a single shot pistol with a curved grip, and like the rifle, has no real history of being made in Kentucky.

In the end, the historical term “Kentucky Rifle” refers not to it’s location of origin, but the area that molded it’s design, and justified it’s manufacture. When the settlers moved west into the plains area, the rifle of choice was the much shorter Hawken.

http://johno.myiglou.com/kyrifle.htm