Trego's Mountain Ear

Aunt Faye had an Eig revolver.  I have seen, and used, some mediocre pistols, but Saul Eig went beyond mediocre when he marketed these little guns.  The poor little pistol was unreliable and  slightly less hazardous to its shooter than its target.  My tests, back in the sixties, showed it was more dangerous to the guys alongside than to the target.  I suppose part of the Eig safety plan was stamping it for 22 short, to have as little explosive as possible under the hammer when the little gun failed.

It looked like this, only Faye’s grips had been carved from soft pine:

I found this photo online at David Condon’s site – and it looks to me as if he sold it for $150. 

The cylinder in Faye’s Eig just kind of floated around.  Sometimes when you fired it, it was lined up with the bore and might hit what you aimed at.  Usually it was misaligned, and small pieces of lead and debris would come out to the right or left from the cylinder gap, to annoy (or worse) anyone who shared a firing line. 

After the Bobby Kennedy assassination, the Eig moved into a prominent position as an example of a Saturday Night Special.  They’re historical – but not so historical I’d want to keep one around.