A friend of mine just bought a LeMat with a 2 digit serial number that matches. Anyone have any idea what this might be worth. No blue left but otherwise looks pretty good. Anyone know where we can get some history on these weapons?

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Foster Positivity.

The LeMat is a .42 caliber 9-shot revolver with a 16 gauge shotgun barrel attached to it. They are regarded as devastating close combat weapons of the U.S. Civil War period.

Authentic LeMats are worth a whole, whole lot. Are you sure it's not a replica? Pietta of Italy makes a reproduction of them.

I was going to ask the same thing; a REAL one? This isn't usually the kind of gun that some guy just buys wondering what it might be worth. Even the replicas aren't that common and not cheap. Then again, some people get lucky. If it's original, it's time for a professional appraisal.

PS: A quick check of a site I won't mention here reveals two pretty ******-looking originals for sale with buy-nows of $12,000 and $12,500

I saw one on one of the pawn shop reality shows a few years ago, it was authenticated. I believe it went from there to a big auction, don't know what it went for.

Looks like around 15K for a good one. Only 2900 made, 1856-1865.

Gen. Jeb Stuart had one. May not have been his only handgun. Probably wasn't.

You need to buy Geoffrey Boothroyd's, The Handgun. It is the outstanding book on the subject, from earliest days to about 1970. Crown Publishers, 1970.

It will pay for itself very quickly. If you're into guns, you NEED that book.

I think some TV character had one of those in the 1960's. The Rebel? He also had a Colt SAA fitted with the longer grip frame of the Model 1860 .44 Army.

Here's a little review from the Forgotten Weapons channel on YouTube

I think it was "Ringo". Ex-outlaw turned sheriff.

Originals were 42 and the repros are 44. The loading mechanism is not under the barrel like avColt or Remington - it's on the side. Originals are on the right side and repros on the left. This was done purposely so repros could not be sold as originals.

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I always take precautions

In The Quick and The Dead, the Swedish champion that The Kid beats is using a LeMat.

Western TV series "Johnny Ringo" used a Lemat. Johnny Ringo character was a western town sheriff

Collectors oughta cry, too. They used an original, as there were no repros.

Converted to 45 Colt, so it could use 5-in-1 blanks, and the middle took a 410 shotshell.

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I always take precautions

If it is absolutely original with no issues other than aging, it is worth as much as 20K$. Just depends on how badly a particular collector wants it.

Navy Arms Made/sold the repos, of which I have one. The real CVA and state troops had the 42 cal./16 ga. versions in several configurations (of which Navy marketed 3). There were French civilian models in percussion and small cartridge models (22RF and 32RF ) and reports of some pinfire models. There were some small caliber rifles also.

The Navy made guns have horrid metallurgy/heat treating on the sear parts and almost every screw head is easily buggered. I bought a non functioning Navy Arms, Cavalry model about 20 years ago for $400 and still think it was a bargain.

Ivan