C.S. Shattuck Arms Co. Unique Four Shot Squeeze-Fire Palm Pistol

This unique four-shot pistol was manufactured on contract and sold by C.S. Shattuck Arms Co. of Hatfield, Massachusetts (notably misspelled as “SHATUCK” on the side of the gun by the contractor). The design follows Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.’s patent No. 1,176,003, originally filed November 6, 1915, and granted March 21, 1916.

As documented in Winant’s Firearms Curiosa (pg. 82), “There are four short barrels bored in a solid steel block which drops for loading when a vertical catch is released. The gun is gripped in the hand and fired by squeezing a sliding part which operates a rotating firing pin.” This unusual and innovative mechanism makes the pistol a rare and significant example of early 20th-century firearms ingenuity.