_Old-Style Pistols._—Pistols, the smallest of fire-arms, were originally plain implements of a single barrel; but, as improvements advanced, a second barrel was added to many of them, presenting what is known as the double-barreled pistol. Some of these old-fashioned single and double-barreled pistols will still occasionally find their way into the shop of the gunsmith, though their numbers, as now in use, are comparatively small, especially the muzzle-loaders. In rare instances a flint-lock “horse pistol” or holster may put in an appearance, though none such are now on sale at any house dealing in fire-arms. Some few houses are still offering the old cap-lock army holster, always a second-hand article that once belonged to the Government, and was bought up by dealers when the Government had discarded it for the adoption of more modern and better arms. A description of this kind of weapon is unnecessary as it is simply a small musket with side-lock, and all on the usual plan, differing only in being short and having a turned-down handle, to be held in one hand, instead of the usual breech. The single or double-barrel muzzle-loaders, outside the line of army holsters, will usually have the central lock, which is next to no lock at all; simply a mainspring working in the handle and throwing the cap-hammer, which is fitted in the middle of the piece immediately behind the breech-end of the barrel. Some very cheap pistols for boys are still made on this plan. _The Derringer._—The old Derringer, though not now much manufactured in this country, is still among the people in considerable numbers. It is a muzzle-loader, with side-lock and full-stock in wood; and, by the way, it is a very good pistol of its kind. _The Pepper Box._—There are quite a number of little breech-loading cartridge-pistols, with single barrels, now in use, but the pistol of the day is a repeater, of which there are kinds in great variety. One of the oldest and now rarest of these is the “pepper-box,” so called. It has a single barrel containing from five to seven bores, which are loaded from the muzzle. A tube for percussion caps communicates with each bore at the breech, and upon these a hammer strikes, having an automatic action, rising up and striking in response to pressure upon a trigger underneath, which pressure also revolves the barrel, bringing the caps into proper position for receiving the blow. It was never a popular pistol, people objecting to a kind of way it had of sometimes letting off its seven charges simultaneously, when the person operating it had intended to fire but one.