The Butterfield Army Revolver and its Automatic Priming 

72 years later, an Austrian candy maker stumbles on the patent for the automatic pellet dispensing system, and the PEZ dispenser is born.

That pellet feed system was a lot simpler than I expected it would be. Very cool! I also like the idea that you could safely carry all cylinders loaded with no more than a function of the hammer to make it ready to fire.

That magazine is the slickest thing I ever saw on a revolver

The cap and ball equivalent of a pez dispenser.

Those priming pellet systems are so freaking cool! This one seems a little more controlled than the sharps where the pellet just flies out to be caught by the hammer

butterfeild is such a pleasant name

That looks very steampunk because of the brass and pellet mechanism.

It always seemed to me that with such tiny sights on this sort of weapon you would be better off just sighting down the barrel in a combat situation, as apposed to actually trying to line up such a small notch under stress

Some people can't believe it's not butter.

Usually I don't even comment on the weird suggestions anymore, but "Easy Unicorn Make Up" is a new high. Or low. Probably low.

Another problem with Colt revolvers jamming with spent caps is that the hammer has a small recess in it that is meant to set the hammer down between the nipples and hold the hammer safely in place so you can carry six rounds without the hammer sitting on a live cap. It works great for it's intended purpose but it has the horrible side effect of grabbing the spent cap and sticking into the recess. However,my understanding is that it wasn't as bad of a problem on original guns as it is with modern re-productions. One of the things you'll see seasoned C&B shooters do is point the muzzle up vertically before they cock the gun.The orientation helps the spent caps fall free from the gun better.

Buttery smooth action

cool revolver! Love these cap and ball episodes. Would love to see some more shooting with cap and balls aswell. What we need to see is a deffinitive ballistics-test of these type of revolvers. 44. 36. 31. cal. with conical and round-ball. There has been a couple of half-assed videos about it, but nothing that is conclusive in this subject. Penetration, accuracy, lethal ranges, etc. please make a video of this with Carl:)

Hey Ian, just a quick correction on the Civil War units (my apologize, I know a lot about New York Regiments in the Civil War). You got the Name and Numbers right, but they are the 5th and 6th New York Cavalry Regiments. Love your channel, and love the guns, but I just though I would share my knowledge.

It certainly looks more reliable than the Maynard percussion priming tape

Simple guns, with ingenious design elements. I've heard of auto priming firearms from the Civil War era but I never actually seen them, sure would be fun to fire one although I would think the grip would take some getting use to.

What a beautiful gun, seriously,imo one of the best looking ones ever seen on your awesome channel. Plus: supercool priming system. And a very low bore axis! It's a shame that so few were produced, I read something that a maximum of 800, some say only 640 were made.

Simple, yet ingenious priming system. It looks really cool too IMO.

Ingenious little devil this revolver is. That's frankly, one of the more innovative delivery designs i've seen in weaponry.

Thanks for this video! I've seen two or three photos from the period off and on for decades now where one or more of these revolvers was/were visible. However, the captions NEVER identified the revolver stating only that "The Union/Confederate officer/soldier pictured above fairly bristles with weapons." or words to that effect. I often wondered about the who and what of the rather odd, in comparison to Colts and Remingtons for example, looking revolver in those photos. And now I know! Thanks again for educating me with a great video!

Can the pellets detonate all at once in their tube when the spring below them abruptly snaps?

Never heard of this one but it shows that they were thinking outside the box, given the technology of the day, & that life was a little bit rough & ready, it was brave of him to pursue with manufacturing such a firearm but you are right Ian, its a cool pistol!

As a casual firearms enthusiast, these videos are great fun. As a writer who's been brainstorming a low fantasy / steampunk-style story for years, these are an amazing resource for finding weird, obscure, borderline-fantastical gun designs.

I have seen and handled one of these. Very cool

Now I got an itch that needs scratched.....time to break out the 357. Magnum and have some fun!

A very neat design indeed. Also a very interesting shape. I would like to fire one of those someday to see how the recoil feels.

what a beautiful revolver

Very interesting concept with no patent infringement problems. Now I am going to have to research the wafer primer concept because I seem to remember seeing it incorporated in a Sharp's Carbine at the Smithsonian???

A spring loaded magazine for a non-fixed ammunition component is such a delightful transitional concept.

That is brilliant

My first grade teacher was named Butterfield. She didn't show us anything nearly as cool as this though.

That's a really neat design. How many pellets does the tube hold? Judging from the thickness of the pellet tray I'd say they're probably about 2mm in thickness so the tube likely holds quite a few of them. An actual number would be nice, though. Great video as always, Ian!

The hammer goes THROUGH the primer holder. Damn. That's just beautiful.

Perfect handle shape for a cane revolver.

Ingenious 👍👍

Really cool

There's my new concealed carry. I should get *two.*

This gun needs be ina movie underrated as fuck

cool design

That's a pretty clever design

I would love to see a video on iron sights through the ages and maybe you can better explain the reasoning behind such tiny sights on so many guns.

are we getting a traditional "forgotten weapons" vodeo on the 2000 rounds per minuite machine pistol in .22 LR?

since the nipple is only primed at the last second before firing doesn't that mean the other nipples could let moisture (etc) into the powder charge?

That low bore axis probably made it a nice shooter.

Beauty

Also too bad, i had hoped for Dan Butterfield to be involved with this... you'll probably recognize the name from the movie "Gettysburg" when they talk about a previous commander of their Brigade inside V Corps that devised his own bugle signals :D (Butterfield actually is often named as the composer of TAPS, the bugle call played at funerals, but he may have just rewritten an earlier call that then became more famous and popular than it's inspiration) then he went on to command V Corps and became chief of staff under Hooker and Meade with some controversy about the Hooker discipline in the Headquarters (alcohol and prostitutes) tarnishing his reputation. He went on to the Western theater following Hooker after Gettysburg, but was wounded before his unit could go with Sherman through Georgia... After the war he was treasurer, but had to resign over a corruption scandal and went back to American Express, then actually an "express" delivery service, founded by his father John W. Butterfield and the Messr Wells & Fargo, who founded their far more well known transportation business when the board around Butterfield refused to expand into (then not directly connected to the other states) Utah, ultimately becoming its CEO. Had he been behind this revolver, it would have been even more enjoyable. But we only got a less colorful Jesse/James Butterfield...

cool gun

Nice revolver

That's a good term, Proprietary Patented Pellets

I wonder how well that primer magazine feed worked?

This is the kind of Pistol that makes me go: Yup... That's a funky lookin' gun. I like it.

It can shoot Butter Bullets! The Barrel is Buttered! I'm melting as I write, melting, melting!

I wonder if the caps were anything like the pellets for the Sharps rifle/carbine?

Imagine combining this revolver with paper cartridges. You could pull of fast reloads for the time.

Ian I'd love to see some sharps guns hopefully you can find some :)

Very interesting. The grip positioning might help make the recoil impulse straighter, thus reducing muzzle rise. I'm sure a 41 cal ball or slug at 800-900 fps was decent power in its day. That primer delivery bar sure had to be timed precisely to the hammer. That is craftsmanship there. Too bad they weren't more widely distributed. How about telling us the weight on the guns too, at least a close estimate? I'm sure it's hard to take a scale with you, but if u have a gun of known weight to compare it to, u can estimate by feel. This would give us some perspective as to how it compares with its contemporaries. Great video as always. Thank you

Would there not be more chance of chain fire with it not having caps on there sealing them up ?

Coffee and automatic priming? What a morning!

My first thought when hearing this gun's name was Dr. Seuss.

Looks like primer pellets have quite a lot of friction while thing is operating, i wonder if there was problems with acidentnal priming inside the tube.

Cool :)

I have a painting depicting a French Currassier Regiment armed with a pattern pistol very similar to this, not sure about the date.

I wonder if the primer pellets could have been coated in varnish or shellac to make them water proof.

how often can you expect that mechanism to fail?

I bet if you only put one or two priming pellets in it would go kaboom when you inserted the magizine.

I Remember Having a Toy Version Of this Gun as a Kid Ian Pretty Cool 😎🎃

Ian, you're my favorite person on youtube. I watch a LOT of youtube so that's saying something.

I just couldn't keep my eyes off the scoped rifle behind you on your right! my left!..... have you done a video of that long sweet heart?

Is there any relation to the North-Savage revolver known?

Can you get percussion caps for that at all and please state if ammo is ready and available for for the weapons or no longer made thank you Ian.....

Hey Ian, when you are browsing the guns looking for something to do a video on, do you ever stop and say “wait, have I done a video on this already?”

Wonder how reliable the system was.

And the Lord said let there be a new video, and it was so.

Yay I'm early to a video.

What was the reasoning behind making such minuscule sights on guns around this time?

Interesting... curious as to what you need to do to drop the hammer after you cock it without firing... without firing..

Praise be!!! The Gun Jesus blessed us again with his knowledge and smooth voice !!!

Ian, you have described a number of weapon components lately is being made out of brass. Are these most likely to be in fact gunmetal? Do you feel the distinction is unnecessary, and you were just calling "red brass" "brass"?

Butterfield gun, for Australian Butterfield.

i really like the butterfield video games they do world war won good coooool

Am I the only one that wonders what this sold for at auction? Or the value?

Why did I read this as “the butterfly revolver”

Is there any other material, besides ivory and wood, ever used for grips before cheap plastic manufacturing was invented?

Tbh, I find inline-style revolvers odd. Although it does look like a cool idea

I want it

Do anyone of you, know of a cap and ball revolver with a quick change cylinder (a magazine for a revolver)

It looks like somebody had a couple of "Pirateguns" left over and fixed their grips/stocks to a revolver... not the most pleasing shape in my eyes.

Well I know what im changing my last name to...

Hii I have a revolver which I'm not sure witch it is could you help

*BUTTER*

So the past few days your videos haven't been showing up in my suggestions... Is RU-vid screwing with you again?

Seeing as the pellet pushing plate doesn’t seem to be precision fitted, I.e. there is a gap larger than is necessary for the plate to move, wonder what’s the likelihood of the pellet column exploding from firing. Especially if there is a timing problem with the nipples or a damaged hammer. Definitely a novelty and not suited for general issue.

F R A N K L Y

Loads almost like a BB gun lolz

So, like a little pellet of bare mercury fulminate?

Saw one in a gun show the other day. Nowhere near that good of condition

The little softie in me read the title as "Butterfly"

Hi guys,thanks for tuning in to another video on forgotten weapons.com I'm GUN JESUS and today we're taking a look at a revolver

I hope Butterfield sued the hell out of PEZ for stealing his automatic priming design.

Thank god this was released just now. I was just having the worst time i ever had in the last 7 years and ian releases another great video.thanks ian. Sigh this sounds really weird.