[KarlInOhio]

hip-hop history lesson about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton

Did Aaron Burr hold his pistol gangsta style in the duel?

[PROCON]

You jiving me?

[mass55th]

" Did Aaron Burr hold his pistol gangsta style in the duel? "

Yep, and he wore his britches low so that his butt crack showed.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

He might have held his pistol sideways as many paintings of combat from that time show men holding their flintlock pistols sideways so as to cover the touch hole with priming powder.

I had a gentleman explain to me that you really did not want the powder to cover the hole, you wanted it to stay level in the pan just below the touch hole so the explosion of the priming powder would drive the flame through the hole into the main charge.

In the actual duel, Hamilton’s firearm discharged prematurely and Burr then aimed and shot him dead. About thirty years ago, those firearms were disassembled to make copies, and it was found that the firearms had a “set trigger” and Hamilton may have been trying to set the trigger when it discharged. A “set trigger” allows the firearm to discharge the pistol by barely touching the trigger.