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Post by Alpo on Jun 16, 2016 2:24:24 GMT -6
That's "purty", not "Purdy". It ain't a Purdy. It's Westley Richards. "Exhibition Grade", 55 bore, 5-shot pepperbox.
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Post by luckyjack on Jun 16, 2016 16:29:27 GMT -6
Wow, that's a fine example!
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Post by eddien on Jun 19, 2016 17:48:23 GMT -6
Sweet!
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Post by chootem on Jul 11, 2016 11:14:16 GMT -6
Can you fire all at once or is that a terrible idea?
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Post by Alpo on Jul 11, 2016 12:19:11 GMT -6
Would it hurt the gun? No. Is it possible? It should not be, unless there is something broken. Mark Twain, in Roughing It, mentions someone one the stage having a pepperbox (don't recall whether it was him or not, but THINK it was), and said it was extremely inaccurate, and had the bad habit of occasionally firing all the barrels at the same time. There was a long arm (started to say "rifle", but I bet it was smoothbore) called a "volley gun". Had seven or more barrels arranged in a cylinder'like pattern, and they all fired at once. I belive it was designed for putting down angry crowds - mutinies on ships, prison riots, like that.
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Post by Alpo on Jul 11, 2016 12:24:53 GMT -6
George Bemis . . . wore in his belt an old original "Allen" revolver, such as irreverent people called a "pepper-box." Simply drawing the trigger back, cocked and fired the pistol. As the trigger came back, the hammer would begin to rise and the barrel to turn over, and presently down would drop the hammer, and away would speed the ball. To aim along the turning barrel and hit the thing aimed at was a feat which was probably never done with an "Allen" in the world. But George's was a reliable weapon, nevertheless, because, as one of the stage-drivers afterward said, "If she didn't get what she went after, she would fetch something else." And so she did. She went after a deuce of spades nailed against a tree, once, and fetched a mule standing about thirty yards to the left of it. Bemis did not want the mule; but the owner came out with a double-barreled shotgun and persuaded him to buy it, anyhow. It was a cheerful weapon--the "Allen." Sometimes all its six barrels would go off at once, and then there was no safe place in all the region round about, but behind it. - Roughing It
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