dttuner,

I think that you'll find that your howdah pistol is a 21/2inch ,410 shotgun shell fitted with lead conical bullets. = POWERFUL at close range, though with a rainbow trajectory.
(Howdah pistols came in rifled/SB and in bores of up to.72 caliber. - A few ML Howdah pistols were up to 4 gauge!!!)

Depending on who you believe, Lord Robert Baden-Powell (Later a Major General of Britishicon forces & founder of the Boy Scouts) once owned a Howdah pistol of either 8 or 10 bore. - The Howdah pistol (that MAY or MAY NOT be his) is a 10 bore SxS DB with 10" tubes & made by Rigby in the UK. = An 8 or 10 bore Howdah would have BRUTAL recoil.

yours, satx