The bore is rifled with four, narrow grooves with a very slow rate of twist, which almost appears straight. The pistol is approximately 11 3/4" in overall length, with a 6 1/8" round barrel. The bore measures 11.45mm groove to groove, with the chambers measuring 11.47mm at the front and 12.10mm at the rear. It is a standard French made M-1854 Lefaucheux single action military pinfire revolver and is chambered for the 12mm variant of the round. These were intended for retail sale or export, and is in about VERY GOOD condition. This pistol is a solid example of this revolver, and appears to have been made by Lefaucheux itself in France. Excavated and recovered pinfire revolvers are known from these campsites as well, and at least one privately owned 9mm pinfire was recovered from the wreck of the USS Cairo gunboat, and is on display at Vicksburg National Military Park. It is not uncommon for relic diggers to find 7mm, 9mm as well as the more common 12mm pinfire cartridges in known Civil War campsites. Many men took privately owned, "civilian" pattern pin fire revolvers into the field.
However, the use of pin fire revolvers by the North and South was not limited to the 12mm military guns. Period documentation indicates that pinfire revolvers saw significant use by Confederate soldiers as, and many deep south arsenals maintained inventories pin fire cartridges and even offered the pistols for sale to officers. Other importers who provided pinfire revolvers to the US government included Herman Boker, Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, George Raphael (who provided the Raphael revolvers to the US), Alexis Godillot of Paris (who provided the Perrin revolvers to the US) and even Tiffany & Company. The Ordnance Department did not appear to differentiate between the French and Belgian made versions, much like they often lumped French and Belgian made muskets together without any distinction at all. However, extant examples with American Civil War provenance indicate that many Belgian licensed copies were also imported during the war. Most of Schuyler's purchases appear to have been made directly from Lefaucheux in Paris. The primary importer of M-1854 revolvers was George Schuyler who purchased 10,000 Lefaucheux revolvers for the US government. Although US government purchases only record about 13,000 M-1858 Lefaucheux patent pin fire revolvers as being officially purchased (along with over 2.2 million cartridges), surviving examples and regimental records indicate that far more than that were imported. Thousands of these pinfire revolvers were imported for use by US troops, and at least a few hundred saw service with Confederate troops as well. In many ways the large bore martial pinfire revolver, based upon the patents of Casimir and Eugene Lefaucheux, was one of the most modern and advanced military handguns to see use on the battlefield during the American Civil War. This model revolver, as well as the later M1858, were imported in large numbers by both the North and South during the American Civil war. Most military models were produced only with single-action, whereas civilian models were made primarily with double action. The revolver was sold to the civilian market as well. Etienne (MAS), Liège, Belgium, or local producers under license.
Most were produced either at the state arsenal in St. The 1854 model was the first metallic-cartridge revolver adopted by a national government.
The serial number 22873 is just outside the range of numbers of the revolvers officially imported to the USA during the Civil War (25,000-37,000) under contract. However, it is very possible that it was a private purchase made early in the war. The Model 1854 Lefaucheux pinfire revolver was a large frame single action variant of this popular French pinfire system.