Founded by Able Shawk and J. K. McLanahan
.36 caliber percussion, 6 shot revolver, 8" round barrel, brass frame, produced
in the suburb of Carondelet.
Shawk was an inventor and maker of steam fire engines and it was with his
machinery at his two story stone building on Market Street where one hundred
of the revolvers were made in 1858. They had solid brass frames patterned
after the Whitney and an 8 inch round barrel. The plain round cylinder was
six shot of .36 caliber. Some were marked "Shawk & McLanahan, St. Louis, Carondelet, Mo."
on the backstrap and others were unmarked except for serial numbers which are all under 100.
No patent was ever obtained and only very view examples are known today.
It is supposed that Leech & Rigdon, Columbus, Mississippi used the machinery of Shawk & McLanahan.
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