Chicago Palm Protector Pistols
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- "The Protector" was a very discreet palm pistol developed in the late 1800s by a French inventor, produced in bulk by the Ames Sword Company, and sold by the Chicago Firearms Company. They are mechanically double-action turret revolvers with a unique grip design meant to be to be fired by squeezing. The first few were made in France by the original inventor, and later licensed to an Irish-American who sold them through first the Minneapolis Firearms Company and later the Chicago Firearms Company. Most are in an extra-short .32 caliber rimfire cartridge, but a few were also made in both .41 and .22 calibers.
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Probably one of the most interesting forgotten weapons on the channel. I just love the design on the pistol and how small it is.
So, two potential features I noticed. First, the on the French one, I noticed that with the safety engaged, you could still cock the weapon partially, as pointed out. It appeared to be just enough to allow the weapon to be put on safe and then facilitate the safe removal of the cylinder as the amount it could still be cocked was enough for the hammer to clear the cylinder. Intelligent!
Now, with the Chicago, the tab on the front that prevented the cylinder from indexing should actually operate like a grip safety. With out the cylinder being able to index, it should prevent the trigger from being squeezed any further as well, therefore preventing firing, until the lever was compressed. I would imagine that to be the purpose of that tab as it didn't appear to have any other manual safeties. A simple design, but also very intelligent! Thank you for sharing! I love seeing the old and odd weapons!
I think they should have painted the barrel white, to resemble a cigarette. Then it wouldn't look odd when poking out between the fingers.
dumptuck The idea was, that this was carried in a coat pocket, by a Gentleman, or a Lady. As a discreet self-defense weapon. Not as something you would carry openly.
Besides, it would be to big around, and would stand out.
Googlesux Bigtime Well then, make it brown, like a cigar.
You could hollow cigar out a little and slide it over the barrel
@@Drapnoodle Talk about a strong cigar!
Would look quite natural with smoke curling out of the end of it... :)
These little pistols show up all the time on lists of weird guns on TV and in other places, but I don't think I've ever actually seen one taken apart and explained in detail on camera. Great video, I didn't realize how relatively simple these are internally. I wonder how they shoot.
There is a scene in the beginning of a Steven Seagal movie where he takes a palm pistol apart and puts it back together. Like you, I've seen them in lots of old magazine articles and such. I really didn't know they had made that many of them.
slowpokebr549 I did read a book on guns and saw the lemon squeezer or the Iver Johnson gun and didn't think much about them
Yeah,I always wondered what the hell that was he was putting together in that scene.I'd never seen them before,I thought it was some kind of tool.
Jarrett Wisener Okay I have seen these kinds of guns in a book before and didn't think much about them
slowpokebr549 I think that movie was Marked for Death
I would love to see a modern reproduction of this in .22 and possibly .380. A nice alternative to the NAA mini-revolver.
50 BMG version when?
@@themeddite
Conceal carry for an A-10?
Far too sneaky for the gubbermint to ever allow today sadly
@@themeddite that'd be way bigger than your palm lol
@@billiejeanthejellybean2536 Thats why I'm here, I want my hand to be broken, that way I get to see my robber at the hospital too.
I didn't know anything about these, was amazed to find they are revolvers! They're so small I assumed they were just single shot. Very intricate.
There's a pistol in Timeshift that has a turret style magazine, and ever since I saw that I wondered if there were any real-world firearms that used a similar design. Glad to know there is something that uses this really cool mechanism.
Watching these is like going on a time traveling through guns. Love it!
I dated a girl in college and our first date was on July 4 in the late 90s. She said I needed to meet her parents before we went out, which I did. Her dad was a Cook County (Chicago) sheriff’s deputy. A few minutes after I met him, he said “I want to show you something.” We go to the driveway near the street, and he unwraps one of these palm pistols from a red handkerchief. People throughout the neighborhood were shooting off fireworks, so it was pretty loud, but he fired two shots into the air, after which, he turned to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said “take care of my daughter.”
Upstanding behavior from an enforcer of the law...
I love how many things hes made that I havent gotten to yet. I dont purposely trawl through his videos, so all the time random interesting stuff pops up when I want something new and its great. even from back in 2014!
I've known about this gun for a very long time, and I've always loved seeing videos about it... there aren't a whole lot.
Just want to say that I love your videos. Very clear, straight to the point, well researched, no unverified bullshit and the video and audio quality is great.
A+ stuff!
Thanks for this.
What a wonderful, little gun. And the French one is just beautiful.
You could put brass knuckles on that and beat someone while simultaneously shooting them.
"Apache knuckles"
"gun fu"
@@mariosebastiani3214 lol
Your user name goes with this comment really well
Wow, that's a way more elegant design than I was expecting!
I would actually consider carrying one of these if you could get a modern one, and/or if concealed carry was legal where I am. that's a really cool design & I was shocked at how much they hold
Why didn't it catch on? seems pretty much perfect for a small concealed gun. holds a lot of ammo for a small concealed gun. not many moving parts so I assume it's pretty reliable.
+eyy lmao Largely because it was limited to a quite weak cartridge and was impossible to aim at any distance.
+Forgotten Weapons Is the 22 centerfire cartridge and specially the 32 rimfire THAT weak? I mean, i reckon these guns were made for really close range situations. And most important, were there really a lot of options of concealed guns that could compete with those ones? Thank you for your videos, they are all great!
+eyy lmao besides, reloading this one is kinda bitch. you need to manually extract and load all cartridges, unlike classical revolver which, unless it's a welded sideloader, has loading drum holders.
+eyy lmao Small Marketability.
+eyy lmao This weapon had somewhat limited appeal. Low accuracy, low stopping power. Only conceivable to be used in very close combat where you want a weapon slightly more effective than your own fists, depending on how crap you are at fighting. This would be good in maybe scaring off muggers, or gamblers who had a wide variety of eccentric concealable weapons. If you're going into a situation where you're going to need a gun, most people would just bring a reliable common revolver, not this gadget.
Nice to see the original French model.
I’ll never stop supporting this channel
Love it... especially the mechanism.
Amazing designs, small, yet practical.
Never heard of these guns before, I regret not finding out earlier.
This is one of the coolest pieces you have ever reviewed, Ian. Very nice.
I've seen tons of these especially at the Reno gun show. I was lucky enough to grow up around some of the top gun and civil war sword experts in the nation. Use to have to lug shit like this in when we set up
Chicago PD museum used to have one. Saw it when I was like 10 in the 70s
Amazing little thing.. never heard of the ´22CF though. thanks for posting !
Someone should really make these again. Great for a backup gun, apendix carry, ankle carry, just about perfect to deal with muggers too.
probably mentioned plenty of times already in the intervening years, but I just noticed. it seems like the safety allows you to cock the gun exactly far enough to get the cylinder out. that's very neat. 'you need to cock the gun to load/unload it' on a doubleaction is perhaps a little... risky? but a safety that lets you do that just far enough is a very clean solution
I imagin that a modern version could be a nifty female bond/femme fatal gadget for a movie. Hmm maybe giving a slide out blade that runs along the barrel as a type of punch dagger for when you run out of rounds wouldn't be to far fetched?
Amazing engineering
What an amazing piece of History thank you Ian
Looks like a grinder...follow up idea, grinder guns?
10/10 idea
Those look so cool, I really need one for the collection
I've fired one of these and suprisingly they are accurate up to 25-30 meters give or take 5 cm from where you aim.
Still for being such a small gun i find these to be quite fun to fire as you don't have the barrel weight in mind.
Which caliber was the gun you shot? - They are most interesting.
i really like that gun, it looks fancy as fuck and the mechanics of it are astounding.
it doesnt even look like a gun. it looks like a pocket watch or something
CaptainSkelebones That may have been part of the idea, idk but what i do know is that i like it.
It looks like bureaux press pistol
Me: That's the weirdest gun I've ever seen.
Ian: Hold my beer, this is about to get serious.
Imagine one of these with a clock face on one side massing it double as a pocket watch. The ultimate gentleman's accessory.
If I were heavily into collecting antique firearms, these would be a must have.
this is so cool. I totally thought it was a single shot device from the first look. They should definitely bring this back.
Been watching these for a few years. Never noticed I wasnt subscribed
Thanks for the neat showing!
All your stuff is cool but dang this and the clock spring French police gun are my favorite. Pretty stinkin interesting! Thanks for sharing
When I hear that song Leroy Brown for some reason I imagine the ".32 gun in his pocket for fun" is one of these squeezers. What could be more fun than a .32 squeezer?
Those are really cool pistols.
Thank's Ian .
Remember this in Marked For Death (1990).
You do such a bang up job that when you correct yourself I feel like you don't even have to.
These are really cool. I’d like to see a modern manufacturer make some.
I have the Chicago palm pistol but mine has the black plastic not the mother of pearl sides. I did a review and close up video if anyone wants to check it out. Palm pistol I'd love to do a shooting video but the .32 rimfire extra-short black powder ammo is impossible to find. Such a cool gun.
When I was kid there was a comics story here in Czech Republic in the most popular magazine for teens .. ABC .. it was about mysterious murderer using this very weapon. The comics was called 'Shooting hand' .. it was just few pages, but it was so cool. Some other small weapons and even pepperbox revolver also showed up in the story. I didn't know it's based on real weapon, even produced in such numbers !
Here I could find one page online .. not sure how long it will stay there .. www.komiksbazar.cz/inzeraty/472/1_big.jpg
The way these fit in the hand, and firing such light rounds, I'd imagine the felt recoil is virtually non-existent.
always liked these little jewels.
The cylinder rotate lock also is effectively a safety. Could probably get the size down to regular pocket watch if in .22 short? More practical than a "pen gun".
not a bad design at all!
4:50 wouldn't it be more practical if you fliped it? it would fit the hand better and you could operate the safety with the thumb.
I am leaving a comment to show my appreciation.
I want this gun in the next Assassins Creed)
Speaking of that, if a small bayonette blade was added you could both fire and stab at enemies.
So cool. Would love to have one of these!
I've wanted one of these for kicks since seeing them in the Dorling Kindersley books as a kid.
dude nice new intro!
reminds me of a time piece. heh.. very cool to see one of these up close.. iv only seen one on the history of the gun episodes.. and it did not do as a good of a job to explain the gun. i guess in fear of someone making one.. as they would not even tell you the ingredients of gun power which is so well known i thought it was stupid they block that out on the history Chanel. to bad the history Chanel no longer does history.. just stupid pawn shop this or picker that.. blah.. we want our history Chanel back. thank goodness for the inter-web. peace.
always interests me old curio guns like this
interesting little gun, .love the video
I have seen something like this in an old western. I think it was one of the Sebata movies.
I've always wondered how those worked! (I saw one in a Georgia pawnshop, but didn't get it. It looked like the Chicago version, I wonder how it ended up there)
toomanyaccounts
it might be an AOW, yeah. I think palm pistols are listed by name.
I don't understand how you're supposed to load the bullets in the cylinders of these. I imagine you'd have to slide them in from the inner side, but do you have enough room to do that?
Loved the video Ian!
Just wondering, were you holding the pistol upside down?
Because it seems more logical for the gun to be placed in your hand with the pivoting-point for the 'handle' facing down, which allows for the 'handle' to fit the shape of your hand better.
I'm quite surprised no company has picked this design up, especially with the recent surge in concealed / compact handgun demand.
Hum, I wonder if you can make .22 center fire out of a .22 rim fire case. I should get the specs sometime and give it a try...even though I have no firearm it would work with, haha.
I know that no one would make these kinds but if they were to release reproductions of these 3 models I would try to get some but when I turn 21 and if they do that when I do which is a few years away but it would be cool to have not only some originals but also some reproductions of these 3 designs.
idk why but i just get the impression that your supposed to hold those the opposite way he does so the trigger looks more like a hammer seems like itd be comfier in your hand that way
what i have learned from your channel: the french may can not build a good car, but they have for shure build some fine guns.
haha i'm from germany, i would never admit that peugot build some cool rally cars in the past...
+lokdabest renault hat auch mit die ersten panzer gebaut ....*hust*
ich find das design und die idee cool ...9 oder 10 schuss is ne menge und besser oder schlechter als ein derringer is das ding allemal , und ne 22er aus nem meter in den wanst ...der tag is gelaufen .
its a nice design , 9 or 10 rounds is quite a lot , and there is no real difference to a derringer in accuracy and power ...so i prefer this one because of more rounds .
and a 22 at point blank range in the guts ....your day is just fucked up.
The 1970s Citröen's are better made than almost any car their size today.
This is a Geniously diabolic device. Fantastic.
I'd think it would be better if the lid was hinged on and had a dial that sat flush in it to unlatch it (with shallow finger depressions for turning it).
Introducing the army's new standard issue sidearm!
Thus video deserves a like just for that intro music
Thanks. Very interesting.
i read in a book somewhere, these pistols were referred to colloquially in their day as a "lemon squeezer pistol"
This may sound crazy, but hear me out: this gun would be just as effective using BLANKS.
Blanks are scary, but relatively safe at distance and you could make a potentially fatal contact shot in dire circumstance.
Could you speculate on the ballistics of the .32 extra short? I would think it would be only a little more than a .22 CB cap. Anyway no one wants to get shot and in that pre-antibiotic era even a minor wound could get badly infected, so these palm pistols had a niche as a deterrent to keep a bad guy away, especially for women to defend herself. BTW: I've seen the .32 extra short referenced in cartridge books, but this was first I've ever heard of a .22 CF.
Maybe the .22 CF were a european thing?
I don't have any hard numbers, but I would speculate a bullet of about 80gr moving at about 400 fps from a Protector-length barrel.
Was the 22 CF cartridge limited to French firearms and why did it not persist?
I'm honestly surprised nobody's revived the concept since these original 19thC examples.
A handy little piece ...
Really cool.
Oh this is screaming for a BUG match.
Can you do a video shooting one of these?
We all would like to see that
Would this be classified as an NFA item were it made today? Like the pen pistols?
Him: Has you guest from his name, he was Irish.
Me: oh yeah yeah yeah, i guest that, did you? Yeah you did, yeah i did to yeah.
*Ezio Auditore da Firenze wants to know your location*
Neat little piece! Eerily similar to the AC gun, but then they had to draw inspiration from somewhere....
They definitely wanted to control the ammo sale's. In .22lr or 38 S&W short they would still be somewhat viable today.
7:30 Wow, what a ' nifty ' invention. Geniuseness strikes again ! No, Mr Bond, we expected you to '' when you have to shoot, SHOOT. don't talk ! "" from Good Bad and Ugly...
Would this need to be registered for use in the United States (for self-defense)?
I see you've made it into the item descriptions in the RIA catalog. Was that part of the deal to let you take apart their guns?
Yep, it is. I get to play with guns that would be hard to find elsewhere, you guys get to see them on video, and RIA gets publicity and exposure for their auctions - it's win/win/win.
Awesome
Steven seagal had one in marked for death. First time I saw one
I've heard that turret cylinders were prone to misfire or similar issues - is this true?
In another video, "Cochran Turret Revolver", Ian mentions that these cylinders didn't get very popular for a few reasons. The biggest one is that there is almost always a loaded chamber pointing back at the shooter, and others pointing off to the sides at unintended targets.
This was an even bigger risk with earlier percussion-fired guns where a chain fire could set off all of the rounds at once, spraying lead in all directions.
4:55 the spiderman gun. lol I wonder why no one makes a modern version of these guns? I would buy one.
probably an NFA firearm now
Wouldn't it be like a Derringer? Those are legal.
Shawn Tannehill It does not have any thing to do with the size (NAA revolvers are far smaller then those things) but rather the shape/look. Firearms that don't look like firearms are are NFA items and it could be argued that those do not look like pistols. Now that does not necessarily mean that if you made a modern production one it would be an NFA item, just that it could be and the ATF would have to make the final judgement call. Even if they allow it there is nothing that says that in the future they will change their mind. I will say I thought I had read that there is some one that is developing one.
SpaceCowboyfromNJ They look very awkward to use to me. I would think that a good knife would be more effective at the range these pistols would be good for.
slowpokebr549 I think it would still beat a knife, as a Knife you have to pretty be in contact with the bad guy to have an effect which means if they are stronger then you they they simply have to grab your arm to stop you. A pocket pistol like this would give you some stand off distance. As far as it being awkward to use I can't say as I have never seen one in real life much less held one to judge, though, I will say looks can sometimes be deceiving, and at a guess I I could see it being very natural pointing firearm with 0 muzzle rise that some one that does not have any experience with firearms could hit a man sized target 5-10 yards with out any practice,
GOD!!!... another "curio" firearm i'm DYING for a reproduction-of in modern, smokeless calibers...
PS: any of these 3 models designed for smokeless-powder?
these things were bad ass.
Very interesting. Have always wondered how those worked. Is the French one a bellow dog cartridge? That's the only old 22 center fire I know of.
That's "Velo-dog" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velo-dog
Yep thanks
very well done videos. you good :)