The Lemat Rifle,
The Lemat pistol is often recognizable to most gun people, a nine shot percussion revolver with an 16 gauge shotgun for added firepower, they were very popular with Confederate cavalry and officers during the American Civil War.&nbsp;But what is often not known is that Jean Alexander Lemat created a rifle version of his revolver.
The rifle model was just like the pistol, same caliber, same mechanism, but with an elongated barrel.&nbsp; A buttstock was added and the two barrels were held together with two&nbsp;metal bands which also held the ramrod.&nbsp; After the war his rifles were manufactured for&nbsp;the new&nbsp;metallic cartridges, and both rifles and pistols are&nbsp;known to exist&nbsp;that use pinfire and rimfire cartridges.&nbsp; Unfortunatly his rifles were not a&nbsp;success, being to expensive for post&nbsp;Civil War Americans, especially for&nbsp;Southerners recovering from the&nbsp;destruction of the Civil War.&nbsp; Only 14 Lemat&nbsp;rifles are known to exist today.&nbsp; In 2002 one sold at auction for $75,000.&nbsp;&nbsp;