In the early 1840s, Henry Aston, Ira N. Johnson and a number of associates set up a factory in Middlefield, Connecticut, to complete a government contract for martial pistols of the 1842 pattern. The smoothbore Aston/Johnson used the same 54-caliber ball as the new Mississippi Rifle from the Eli Whitney Jr. factory. While it was strongly associated with the cavalry of the day, the 1842 was actually a general service pistol along the lines of the British and French percussion handguns adopted the same year and many examples bear naval markings. Some 34,000 pistols saw production by 1850 and, upon completion of the contract, Johnson continued making the pistols under his own name. He filled an order for an additional 10,000 between 1853 and 1855. The Palmetto Armory added 1,000 units to the total.

The Aston/Johnson pistols, in their most familiar role, replaced very similar flintlocks in the saddle holsters of mounted troops. They saw considerable use on the Oregon Trail and in the United States/Mexican war of 1847-48. Issued in pairs, they afforded the Dragoons a couple of extra shots after they discharged their muskets and closed with an enemy.

Were we to shoot from horseback or the pitching deck of a ship, our effective range would be measured in feet rather than yards. Standing flat-footed, firing from one hand, carefully milking the trigger, our best groups range from 4" to 6" at 50' and do not exceed 1' on our worst day. Johnny Bates took a firm two-handed grip and put all five inside the B27 silhouette at 25 yards. Buck and ball loads consisting of a 54-caliber ball and four or five 31-caliber shot remain on the silhouette from the 50' mark generally landing in patterns of 1' to 18".

Major Frederick Myatt, M.C., in his book, Pistols and Revolvers, lists velocities in the 500 to 550 feet per second range for a wide range of smoothbore martial pistols. We found 30 grains of Goex FFg would drive the .535" patched ball to 532 fps. This is consistent with Myatt䴜s findings and the results we have obtained with several large-caliber flintlock pistols when using recommended loads. We have also found velocities, point of impact and accuracy remain about the same whether these smoothbore pistols are loaded with patched ball or prepared cartridges with the paper envelop used for wadding. The slow-moving 230-grain ball develops 145 ft-lbs at the muzzle. This is 4 ft-lbs less than the 818 fps .32 S&W Long 100-grain wadcutter load. The ball consistently penetrates 3/4" plywood. It drives about half way through a seasoned pine 2x4. We shot it through a 1" pine board backed with a 2x4. This squashed the ball, blew a large exit hole in the thin board, but the 2x4 stopped it cold. A Model 31 S&W .32 drove the wadcutter bullet through the 1" pine and deep into the thicker board. The Colt revolvers in concurrent development not only surpassed the old single-loader in terms of rapidity of fire, but also afforded profound advantages in terms of range, accuracy and raw power. Nevertheless, the lethality of the .54 caliber smoothbore was firmly established by several centuries of mayhem accomplished with pistols having similar ballistics.