They needed to be identical, so as not to give either party an advantage. There were rules for dueling. Indeed, the pistols themselves were supposed to be provided by the seconds, not the principals, as that would have presumably advantaged their owner.
The notion of gentlemanly honor at the time is nearly forgotten today.
“The Big Country” with Gregory Peck, great scene with dueling pistols at the end of the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ioRMsPEf8o
rules for dueling
https://www.geriwalton.com/pistol-dueling-its-etiquette-and-rules/
One nineteenth century article concluded that dueling “is not only a useful method of resenting an injury, it is an admirable school of manners as well.
Yep. Honor today means that if you look wrong at an inner city gang banger’s baby mama, you are dissing him, and will later be assassinated with a couple of caps to the back of the head, while his homeboys do a midnight drive-by on the rest of your family.
That is the way honor is defended today.
Unless you are Muslim and your daughter is raped. Then you just cut her head off or stone her to death to defend your honor.
The America I was raised in no longer exists.