Pepperboxes

Swiss Shooter · April 17, 2006, 12:42 AM

I just got back from a weekend in Coburg, Germany. The castle there has a huge collection of old firearms, including a large assortment of multiple-barrel firearms.
I'm usually more interested in modern weapons, but I was wondering about the designation "pepperbox." Does that only apply to six-barrel pistols, and if yes, what are four (or other number) -barrel pistols and the old four-barrel shotguns called?

mete · April 17, 2006, 08:25 AM

The pepperbox is a 'revolver' in that it revolves but these are muzzle loading and the 'cylinder' is both the chamber and barrel. Anything from four to eight barrels are shown in one of my books. They are usually small and small caliber guns.There have been other multibarrel pistols ,though not revolving, such as the Howdah pistol, a large ,big bore pistol used when hunting dangerous game from an elephant.The Lancaster howdah had four barrels and fired with a single striker which revolved to each barrel. They still make ,occasionally, multibarrel shotguns. A few years ago I saw a beautiful italian 4 barreled .410 which had the same weight and balance as a 12 gage double.

dfaugh · April 21, 2006, 12:03 PM

I just watched a show on TV the other day about the evolution of firearms, and the spent a bit of time talking about these types. It appears that the term "pepperbox" was applied to most any pistol that had revolving barrels, as well as some that had multiple fixed barrels... 4 or 6 was a common number, as well as 8, but they showed a few that had many more, at least 12 (and they were pretty funny looking, and looked like they'd be very cumbersome to shoot!).

April 17, 2006, 12:42 AM	#1
Swiss Shooter Member Join Date: December 21, 2005 Location: Where shooting is subsidized and soldiers bring their guns home. Posts: 61	Pepperboxes I just got back from a weekend in Coburg, Germany. The castle there has a huge collection of old firearms, including a large assortment of multiple-barrel firearms. I'm usually more interested in modern weapons, but I was wondering about the designation "pepperbox." Does that only apply to six-barrel pistols, and if yes, what are four (or other number) -barrel pistols and the old four-barrel shotguns called? __________________ A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject.

April 21, 2006, 12:03 PM	#3
dfaugh Senior Member Join Date: January 17, 2002 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 1,715	Funny you should ask this... I just watched a show on TV the other day about the evolution of firearms, and the spent a bit of time talking about these types. It appears that the term "pepperbox" was applied to most any pistol that had revolving barrels, as well as some that had multiple fixed barrels... 4 or 6 was a common number, as well as 8, but they showed a few that had many more, at least 12 (and they were pretty funny looking, and looked like they'd be very cumbersome to shoot!). __________________ "If you Listen to Fools, the Mob Rules" "No one has the answer, but one thing is true. You'e got to turn on evil, when its coming after you. You've gotta face it down,and when it tries to hide, you've got to go in after it, and never be denied. Time is running out...Let's roll. Let's roll for freedom, let's roll for love. We're going after satan, on the wings of a dove. Let's roll for freedom, let's roll for truth. Let's not let our children grow up fearful in their youth."

April 17, 2006, 08:25 AM	#2
mete Senior Member Join Date: June 14, 2004 Location: NY State Posts: 6,575	The pepperbox is a 'revolver' in that it revolves but these are muzzle loading and the 'cylinder' is both the chamber and barrel. Anything from four to eight barrels are shown in one of my books. They are usually small and small caliber guns.There have been other multibarrel pistols ,though not revolving, such as the Howdah pistol, a large ,big bore pistol used when hunting dangerous game from an elephant.The Lancaster howdah had four barrels and fired with a single striker which revolved to each barrel. They still make ,occasionally, multibarrel shotguns. A few years ago I saw a beautiful italian 4 barreled .410 which had the same weight and balance as a 12 gage double.