An Assortment of James Reid "My Friend" Knucklers
Forgotten Weapons
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9m 37s
James Reid was a Catskills gunsmith who emigrated from Ireland by way of Scotland. He made a number of different revolvers, but is best known for his line of "My Friend" knuckleduster pepperboxes (or "knucklers", as he called them). At the height of their popularity, Reid had 17 employees, and made a total of about 23,000 of these guns. They were available in .22, .32, and .41 caliber rimfire cartridges, with both brass and iron frames. A revolver version with a single longer fixed barrel was available by special order.
In this video, we will take a look at each of the major variants, as well as a special-order revolver model.
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