If you're a reenactor, chances are you have a certain "persona" that you hope to maintain, and if you're an exacting reenactor, you want all your stuff to match that persona too! Your clothes, your equipment, your tent, sometimes even your haircut (though I wouldn't recommend that personally - you're funny-lookin' enough already)! If you're planning on adding a bandgun to that persona we have plenty of different models to choose from to best accessorize your person (Designer purses? Pfah! We feel that dangerous weapons always make the best accessories).

Who Are You?

Russian Cossack? Dutch trader? Italian mercenary? Danish pirate? French musketeer? Maybe you're a Polish Hussar, or even an Ottoman Janissary? No matter what historical character you emulate anachronistically, you can most likely find a pistol or a carbine that will accomodate your persona.

When browsing through our In Stock listings I'm sure the first thing you're going to do is locate your particular nationality and think about selecting one of those guns. What if you don't like those guns though? You probably have more options than you thought, and can select outside the bounds of nationality and still be perfectly period. Look through any of the links on our Period Gun Sites section of our Links page, especially the antique dealers and auction sites, you'll notice that a great deal of the designs are very similar. Period gunsmiths often worked from similar designs, especially those gunsmiths in similar geographic locations. Many English and French guns, for example, are very similar. Dutch and German guns share a lot of similarities, Italian and Swiss, Swiss and German, etc. Do a little bit of visual gun research and you'll see what I mean.

What did your persona do in period? Where did they go in their travels? Who did they war against? Trade with? It's fairly well-known that one of the biggest spoils of war was, well, spoils! Fallen enemy carried a myriad of useful gear, all of which your persona would have picked through for coveted treasure in armor and weapons and other essential (and valuable) gear. Trade routes are important to think about as well. Guns were major trade goods in the bad ol' days, and if a Dutch trader landed in your harbor, carrying a crate of German guns that he bought from a French smuggler... well I think you see where I'm going with this.

Suggestions, Mr Gunsmith?

Why sure, thank you for asking. I'll point you in a couple of directions. If you want something modern and compact look at guns like our English Flintlock, or our Italian Snaphaunce. They're good designs, and are fairly ubiquitous as far as European guns go.

If you want something longer, preferably in the line of a cavalry holster pistol, take a look at our Dutch Wheel Lock and our English Cavalry Pistol. Like the previous pistols, these are fairly common designs overall, and fir the persona of your average European horseman.

Maybe you're a pirate. Well then I think the French Naval Flintlock is a perfect choice, or the English Flintlock, or the Small Spanish Miquelet. Those are fairly standard piratey guns. Of course, you might not be the typical seen-one-you-seen-'em-all Johnny Depp Disney Pirate. Take a look at the Ottoman Rat-Tailed Flintlock, or the standard Spanish Miquelet.

Central European? Look at our German, Swiss and Dutch guns, as well as our Italian Wheel Lock.

Need a pair of duelling pistols? Can't go wrong with the English Flintlock or the English Dueller.