This pistol was made by the Volcanic Arms Company in New Haven, CT. It notable fired caseless .41 caliber rocket ball ammunition.

This would ultimately lead to the downfall of the design as the slow acceleration of the rocket ball cartridge gave it a muzzle velocity of ~260 fps (79 m/s). Meaning at point blank range it would likely fail to reach lethal velocity, somewhere hurting it’s ability to be marketed for self defense.

  • the_otterman_empire@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The rocket balls on the volcanics are hilariously underpowered and a big reason for their failure despite the high capacity. But I’d never heard of the tape primers and the adaptation to cap guns. Cool stuff.