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Concept
Multiple-barrel firearm
Summary
A multiple-barrel firearm is any type of firearm with more than one gun barrel, usually to increase the rate of fire or hit probability and to reduce barrel erosion/overheating.
Volley gun
Multiple-barrel firearms date back to the 14th century, when the first primitive volley guns were developed. They are made with several single-shot barrels assembled together for firing a large number of shots, either simultaneously or in quick succession. These firearms were limited in firepower by the number of barrels bundled, and needed to be manually prepared, ignited and reloaded for each firing.
In practice the large volley guns were not particularly more useful than a cannon firing canister shot or grapeshot. Since they were still mounted on a carriage, they could be as hard to aim and move around as a heavy cannon, and the many barrels took as long (if not longer) to reload. They also tended to be relatively expensive since they were structurally more complex than a cannon, due to all the barrels and ignition fuses, and each barrel had to be individually maintained and cleaned.
Pepper-box
A pepper-box gun or "pepperbox revolver" has three or more barrels revolving around a central axis, and gets the name from its resemblance to the household pepper shakers. It has existed in all ammunition systems: matchlock, wheellock, flintlock, snaplock, caplock, pinfire, rimfire, and centerfire. They were popular in North America from the 1830s until the American Civil War, but the concept was introduced much earlier. After each shot, the user manually rotates a next barrel into alignment with the hammer mechanism, and each barrel needs to be reloaded and maintained individually.
In the 15th century, there were design attempts to have several single-shot barrels attached to a stock, being fired individually by means of a match. Around 1790, pepperboxes were built on the basis of flintlock systems, notably by Nock in England and "Segallas" in Belgium. These weapons building on the success of the earlier two-barrel turnover pistols, were fitted with three, four or seven barrels.
Official source
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