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Pistols, A Pirate's Best Friend

Unlike the rifles, pistols seemed to be a pirate's best friend. In most pictures of pyrates, it is clear that a number of pistols were carried by each pirate. In most pictures of BlackBeard, at least a half dozen pistols, assumed loaded and ready, can be seen in his sash. The pistol of the day was a flintlock mechanism exactly like the rifles, and a single shot was also loaded via the barrel.
The pistols came in long and short barreled versions, 9 inches and 12 inches long, with a bore of 0.56 inches. The butt had a metal base (known as a skull crusher butt cap) so the pistol could be used as a club once fired. Issued either singularly or in pairs, the sea pistol had an effective range of only 3 or 4 yards. It would be fired and then thrown away to hopefully be retrieved after the fight.