Underhammer by I V Hilscher

[That Pistol Book]

In my possession I have an underhammer pistol with .25" bore and 7,5" long barrel. It is marked 'I V Hilscher' on the top of the barrel, and '1' on the backstrap, indicating it was one of a pair. It is interesting because it is most probably a pill lock (= punch lock). The pill is inserted into the base of a twist then pull out 'breech plug' from the underside of the pistol. Unfortunately this breech plug is missing, and I am trying to rebuild the pistol as originally made, but having to guesse what it was really like from the remaining bits of the pistol. There is nothing similar in Herschel C Logan's book on the Underhammer. Quite frankly both the design and the manufacture of the pistol need a lot to be desired, and it would never have got itself through an English or Continental proof house.

I can find no info on Hilscher on the net or a number of museums I have contacted. If anyone out there has a complete version of this gun, or knows anythiong about about Hilscher, please post it.