Baby LeMat
- Category
- Pistol
- Barrel
- 121 mm
- Weight, empty
- Not recorded
- Introduced
- 1864
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Baby LeMat is a compact nine-shot cap-and-ball percussion revolver, a scaled-down version of the famous LeMat 'Grape Shot' revolver designed by Dr. Jean Alexandre LeMat of New Orleans. Like its larger sibling, its cylinder revolves around a central single-shot smoothbore-or-rifled barrel that fires a load of buckshot, giving a tenth shot. The Baby reduces the cylinder to .32 caliber (from the standard .42) and the central barrel to .41 caliber (from .63), producing a lighter, more concealable handgun intended for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.
When the full-size LeMat's bulk proved impractical for naval officers, LeMat scaled the design down into the 'Baby,' chambering a .32-caliber cylinder around a .41 grape-shot barrel. Confederate financial collapse meant only about 100 were ever finished, leaving the Baby LeMat one of the rarest Civil War sidearms in existence.
Based on the LeMat Second Model design and built in Paris. The Confederacy ordered roughly 2,000 Baby LeMats in 1864, but only about 100 were actually produced and delivered before the contract collapsed, making genuine examples extremely rare. The central barrel was usually smoothbore, though rifled examples exist. Black powder and percussion cap only; specific factory weight and dimensions are not well documented.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- LeMat
- Category
- Pistol
- Country
- France
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1864 to 1865
- Variant of
- Compact
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 121 mm
- Overall length
- 230 mm
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Single action
- Firing mechanism
- Single action
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 9
- Magazine
- Revolving cylinder
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Walnut
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 200 m/s
- Effective range
- 25 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Percussion cap ignition
Nine shot revolving cylinder
Central grape shot barrel
Checkered walnut grips- Compact concealed carry design
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall lengthAmong 1,911 pistols | 230 mm | 196 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,941 pistols | 121 mm | 102 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,962 pistols | 9 | 8 | Holds more rounds than about 60% |
Answers
Questions about the Baby LeMat
What caliber is the Baby LeMat?
The Baby LeMat is chambered in .32 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball) and .41 Caliber Percussion (Cap and Ball).
How many rounds does the Baby LeMat hold?
The Baby LeMat holds 9 rounds, fed from a revolving cylinder.
How long is the Baby LeMat?
The Baby LeMat is 230 mm (9.06 in) long overall, with a 121 mm (4.76 in) barrel.
Who makes the Baby LeMat?
The Baby LeMat is made by LeMat (France). It was designed by Jean Alexandre LeMat.
When was the Baby LeMat introduced?
The Baby LeMat was introduced in 1864 and discontinued in 1865.
How does the Baby LeMat operate?
The Baby LeMat uses a single action, and its firing mechanism is single action.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Confederate States Navy
- 1864
Provenance
Confidence in this record
62%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/lemat-baby' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "lemat-baby", "name": "Baby LeMat", "manufacturer": { "id": "lemat", "name": "LeMat", "countryCode": "FR", "foundedYear": 1859, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "daefc0eaf757ad53dd84260908274822585d009d580c21d4420397a9df4b4d1a" }, "category": { "id": "pistol", "name": "Pistol", "description": "Handguns designed to be fired with one or two hands" }, "country_of_origin": "FR", "year_introduced": 1864, "barrel_length_mm": 121, "weight_empty_g": null, "action_type": "single_action"}