Flipping the lever up caused the movable striker to fall upon the primer set directly under the hammer, discharging the lower barrel while leaving it in the standard position would fire the chambers in the cylinder, much like any other revolver.

Still, as these were non-standard ammunition sizes (.36 or .44 caliber were most common for contemporary revolvers), LeMat owners had to cast bullets (instead of being issued from general military stores).

The final models of the LeMat were produced in .36 or .44 caliber in response to these criticisms, but too few of them managed to get past the Union blockade of the South during the Civil War to be of any actual use.

LeMat revolvers from France were shipped to the Confederate States forces via the United Kingdom, and all firearms that landed in the UK were (and still are) required to be proofed.

A handful are known to have been made illegitimately in the UK by an unknown manufacturer, believed to be the London Armoury Company, but only two examples survive to the present day, and it is doubtful any of the English-made LeMats ever saw service during the U.S. Civil War.

[8] The original revolver, constructed of blued steel with grips of checkered walnut, was not considered to be a very accurate weapon, although it was deadly at close range.

Civil War cavalrymen, particularly in the South, preferred to carry several pistols, as it was faster to draw another loaded weapon than to try to reload a cap and ball revolver in combat.