Gallery Gun - Gun Gallery

A gallery gun, Flobert gun, saloon gun, or parlor gun is a type of firearm designed for indoor shooting. These guns were first developed in 1845 when French inventor Louis Nicolas Flobert modified a percussion cap to hold a small lead bullet.

Flobert guns

In 1845, French inventor Louis Nicolas Flobert modified a percussion cap to hold a small lead bullet. Flobert modified the cap further by creating a rim at the edge so that the cap and bullet could fit in a chamber of a pistol. The round contained no powder and was designed to be a toy. In 1845 Flobert made what he called "parlor guns" for this cartridge, as these rifles and pistols were designed to be shot in indoor shooting parlors in large homes.

Gallery guns

Gallery guns are still manufactured, although they began to be eclipsed by airguns for the purpose of indoor shooting by the late 19th century. These smallbore rifles are typically chambered in .22 Short and are single-shot or slide action types. Some of the more popular guns are the Winchester Model 1890, Colt Lightning Carbine, and the Winchester Model 62. Home shooting parlors and galleries began to decline in the early 20th century and gallery guns went on to be used in small game hunting and in shooting galleries in carnivals and fairs.

Parlor pistols

Parlor pistols came into fashion in the mid-19th century; they typically featured heavy barrels and were chambered in a small caliber. They were used for target shooting in homes with a dedicated parlor or gallery for this purpose. The Remington Rider Single Shot Pistol was one of the better-known American-made parlor guns.

Saloon gun

Saloon guns were smoothbore weapons that fired a Flobert round, but can refer to a large caliber firearm that was made to shoot a smaller caliber round in indoor shooting galleries by use of a chamber insert called a Morris tube. The Morris tube was shaped to the cartridge that the weapon was capable of firing and inside this tube was a smaller chamber for the round (typically .255 Morris) to fit.