Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr dueled using flintlock pistols. The flintlock was invented around the mid 1500’s and used up through 1800’s. That’s about 300 years, wow! Let’s talk about how the flintlock works. A piece of flint is held in place by the gun’s striker, when the gun is cocked and the trigger pulled, the flint strikes forward very quick and hits what they called the “frizzen.” The frizzen is over the firing pan, which is primed with gun powder. Flint, which is harder than metal, creates a spark and ignites the gun powder. The spark continues through a small hole and ignites the powder behind a lead ball, or the shot. The shot is fired from the gun. Incidentally, this is where we get terms like “flash in the pan,” or “half cocked” from.

Now the flintlock pistols used in the duel were owned by Hamilton’s brother in-law, John Barker Church. Funny enough, Church dueled Burr earlier using the same pistols. Nobody was hurt. Hamilton’s son, Philip, also dueled using the guns. Unfortunately, he was killed.

They were made by Wogdon gunsmiths in London in 1797. The pistols also contained a hair trigger. Usually the shooter had to put about twenty pounds of pressure on the trigger to fire. With the hair trigger set, they only needed one pound of pressure. Burr is the one who challenged Hamilton. As a result, Hamilton chose the weapons. It is thought that Burr did not know about the hair trigger. When Hamilton’s second, Pendleton, gave him the pistol, he asked if he should set the hair trigger. Hamilton is said to have responded, “Not this time.”

The guns used .54 caliber balls as ammunition. That’s big ammo. Any direct hits would cause great injury and probably death. However, the guns were very hard to shoot with accuracy. Hamilton’s death resulted in the .54 ball glancing off of his rib and into vital organs.

Thankfully, dueling is not done anymore.