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As much as we love writing blogs about modern guns and moon clips, we’re not just about something you can head down to the gun shop and buy today. We love old guns as much as the next enthusiast, and as much as we’d love to keep talking about Ruger LCR speedloaders or 9mm moon clips (we do talk about those a lot), we’d much rather tell you about some guns you might never have come across in your travels.
Most of us are familiar with top and bottom double-barrel shotguns, each firing the same gauge. A bit less well known are rifle/shotgun combinations, usually a hunting firearm capable of firing .22 from one barrel and .410 shotgun shells from the other.
The LeMat Revolver combined the rifle/shotgun idea, but decided to make it bit scarier by putting them together in a handgun. This pistol and 20 gauge buckshot combination was developed in 1856 by a New Orlean’s man named John Alexandre LuMot. The pistol was a cap and ball black powder revolver with a 9-shot .42 or .36 cylinder. Nothing too weird there, until you realize that there’s a shotgun option in the middle of the cylinder which fired shot from a second barrel underneath the pistol barrel. Which barrel you fired from was determined by a lever on the hammer, which would change the position of the firing pin.
Despite it being an oddball with only around 3000 copies ever made, the LeMat revolver was used in two wars, the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War (most LeMats were manufactured in France and then shipped to Confederate soldiers). But the odd chamber sizes it came in made it difficult to find ammo for, and its introduction toward the end of the Civil War meant it didn’t see much action.
Like many quirky guns, reproductions of the LeMat have found their way into many movies, video games, and television shows, including 12 Monkeys, Firefly, Cold Mountain, The Punisher, Jonah Hex, and Red Dead Redemption.
Why have one barrel when you can have seven or more?!
If you want to know what a pepperbox looks like, imagine an elongated revolver’s cylinder, but instead of lining up with a barrel, each cartridge has its own barrel. In other words, you’re carrying around as many barrels as you have bullets. In many ways it was the precursor to the modern cylinder revolver, because each barrel was rotated in order to put the cartridge under the firing pin.
So what’s the problem with pepperbox guns? Weight is a big issue, since you’re essentially carrying around multiple barrels instead of one. Still, pepperbox guns were quite popular, especially when you compare them to…
Harmonica guns had nothing to do with the sound they made. But take one look at them and you’ll see where they they their name. In the days before reliable cylinder pistols, people would try anything to allow a shooter to fire more than one shot before having to reload. Harmonica guns (sometimes called “slide guns”) sent a slide of bullets sideways through the gun, making the gun look like it had wings. After each shot, the shooter had to manually move the slide sideways to chamber the next round. (By doing so, the gun became easier to fire because the weight was being moved to the center!) Versions of these guns exist in both handgun and rifle form.
What made the harmonica guns go away? Pretty much everything! The single-action revolver was invented, which was much more compact, reliable, and could chamber the next round by pulling back the hammer. Oh, and a revolver could actually fit in a holster!
So, do we make moon clips for harmonica guns? Nope. Speedloaders for pepperbox guns? Absolutely not. Thankfully these designs have died away, and the revolver lives on.
