POTD: One Trigger, Two Locks – B.W. Ohligs Pistol for Franz Joseph

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a percussion pistol built for an emperor. This is a 20 bore over/under by Bernhard Wilhelm Ohligs of Vienna, made around 1862 for Franz Joseph I of Austria.

Ohligs held the title of armourer to the Imperial Royal Court, and he showed his work at the London International Exhibition in 1862 under the heading of firearms and swords for luxury in steel, silver and gold. That is the market he was in. Franz Joseph was a serious hunter who preferred stalking big game on foot, and ornate arms flowed to him from inside the empire and out.

The mechanical part worth looking at is the trigger. There are two separate side locks here, one for each barrel, and one trigger to work them. Pull it once and the right lock drops for the upper barrel. Pull again and the left lock drops for the lower. Single trigger arrangements are something people usually associate with hammerless doubles decades later, and getting one to sequence two independent percussion locks in the right order takes real work inside the wrist.

The stock is ebony rather than walnut, with silver pin inlay and cast silver mounts covered in lion masks, a crossbowman on the trigger guard, and the FJI monogram on the wrist. A near twin sits in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, so this was probably made as one of a pair.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Franz Joseph’s Gold B. W. Ohilgs Over/Under Pistol.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4097/213/franz-josephs-gold-b-w-ohilgs-overunder-pistol. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

The post POTD: One Trigger, Two Locks – B.W. Ohligs Pistol for Franz Joseph appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.