Hail of lead: with a shotgun under-barrel and a nine-shot cylinder, the LeMat revolver was the most devastating Cavalry pistol of the civil war period. Now a faithful copy is available from Navy Arms

American Handgunner, July, 2002 by Mike Cumpston

By 1856, the caplock revolver had become a primary tool and symbol of the "Age of the Western Empire." This was the year that Jean Alexander LeMat obtained a patent for an open-frame single-action revolver of martial caliber. Even more than the products of Sam Colt, the LeMat project became a bellwether in the fledgling global economy. LeMat was a French-born Louisiana physician with European connections. His business partner, Gen. P.G.T Beauregard, was a United States naval officer.

The European influence is evident in the LeMat design. It resembles many of the English revolvers more closely than the Colts and Remingtons. The grip-to-frame angle, the side-mounted loading lever and the shape of the hammer are nearly identical to the features found on the Webley Long Spur revolvers of the mid-1850s.

Major departures from existing American and European holster arms include calibration, capacity and the presence of a unique, auxiliary, smooth-bore under-barrel capable of carrying an 18-ga. ball or a charge of shot.

The early LeMats came in bore sizes of .35 and .41. Some references record that the bore sizes were later changed to the nominal .36- and .44-caliber standard on this side of the Atlantic. Contemporary revolvers possessed five or six chambers in the cylinder; the LeMat accommodated nine.

LeMat and Beauregard arranged for production of the initial revolvers in Philadelphia. With the coming of secession, their global connections were to stand them in good stead. They moved the production base to France and later to the Birmingham steel district of England. The major variations included a Naval Model and a Cavalry Model with a total production estimated at around 2,000 units. Most of the pistols were destined for the Confederate States and were used by a number of high-profile officers.

It is not surprising that such a tool has become the subject of modern replicas. In the early 1980s, Navy Arms Co. commissioned variations of the Army and Navy Models from the Italian firm of Pietta. A copy of the Cavalry Model -- favored by Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart -- found its way to the gunroom of Leo Bradshaw in Waco, Texas.

Leo is a sufficiently weighty arms collector and dealer that R.L. Wilson sends him early copies of all his books. They bear such inscriptions as "To the Inimitable Leo Bradshaw (signed) Larry" and constitute a major portion of my personal reference library. Over the years, Leo has owned a couple of original LeMats and is more than passingly familiar with the design.

Leo pronounced the Navy Arms Model to be a virtual clone of the originals and fulsomely praised the overall workmanship of the Italian copy. As Leo observed, fit and finish are excellent.

The major portion of the revolver is richly polished and blued, while the hammer and trigger are finished in cool-toned color-case hardening.

Pre-Cartridge Arms

Once experienced, the somewhat laborious practice of shooting the pre-cartridge arms creates a recurring itch that must occasionally be scratched. The LeMat proved to be an interesting departure from the familiar Colt designs.

Selected components included a supply of .451" swaged balls from Speer, CCI #10 caps and a flask of Pyrodex FFFG substitute. Navy Arms recommends a charge of 25 grs. volumetric equivalent. Five of these loads gave an average reading of 835 fps. The flask came equipped with a 30 gr. volume spout, and this raised the average velocity to 906 fps with an extreme spread of 60 fps.

The LeMat showed a strong tendency to reliably discharge all nine chambers with no significant hang-ups. Spent caps fell from the cones without binding the cylinder or dropping down into the hammer notch. This is quite an improvement over my usual ham-handed handling of the Colt blackpowder clones.

The 45-degree grip angle and the 3-lbs. 7-oz. weight made the revolver hang steadily in a one-handed duelist stance. The sights -- a truncated triangular front and hammer notch rear -- hung steady on target in spite of the heavy trigger pull.

I fired the first target group at 15 yards, establishing that the group was centered about 9" above point-of-aim. The off-hand spread came in at just under 4". Several subsequent sessions at 25 yards kept all rounds within a 6" group about a foot over the aiming point. Recoil from the muzzle-heavy revolver was predictably mild.

The hammer spring is massive compared to more conventional caplocks. Bob Archer of Navy Arms told me this is essential for reliable ignition of the under-barrel. The trigger return spring is also quite a bit heavier than the dual-purpose unit found on the Colts and Remingtons. According to Archer, it is also less prone to breakage.

Shotgun Barrel

The Navy Arms literature relates the smooth-bore barrel is designed to fire a patched .63-caliber ball over no more than 25 grs. of FFFG. I tried the Pyrodex equivalent charge with six rounds of 00 buck, the result being an anemic pop with the balls clattering weakly into the target board.

I cautiously raised the powder charge to 60 grs. equivalent and standardized my shot loading at 310 grs. of 00 buck. This approaches a 7/8-oz. load and provides for six 00 buck, 30 lead pellets of BB shot, 60 #2s and 300 #8s. I also loaded seven .31 balls, which weigh a bit more.