Muzzle-Loading Firearms with Superimposed Charges? -- myArmoury.com

Justin Pasternak

1) Could you say that with these particular types of firearms, the barrel could also form a type of primitive magazine (a tubular magazine for example) for holding the multiple charges (2, 3, or 4 charges for example), as well as being the barrel that fires the charges, one after another?

2) Are there any other ways to ignite a charge with this type of muzzle-loading firearm, other than by having a lock that slid back (for example, by the press of a secondary trigger, as the primary trigger fires the weapon) to another touchhole each time the weapon was fired?

David Martin · Posted: Sat 14 Jul, 2007 6:48 am Post subject:

I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but these folks have the concept down:

http://www.metalstorm.com/

Chad Arnow · myArmoury Team

Lin Robinson

Justin Pasternak · Posted: Mon 23 Jul, 2007 9:53 am Post subject:

David, that is exactly what I'm looking for. A concept used for muzzle-loading weapons that is centuries old. And is now being used for modern breech-loading weapons.

A quote from an article of Metal Storm: "The concept of stacked projectiles (multiple projectiles loaded nose to tail in a single gun barrel with propellant packed between them) predates Metal Storm".

David Martin · Posted: Mon 23 Jul, 2007 11:51 am Post subject:

Gordon Frye · Posted: Mon 23 Jul, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject:

Justin;

There was also a weapon called the "Chambers Repeating Gun", invented by a New Englander by the name of Chambers (interestingly enough...). He was fascinated by arms of this type, and made up rifles and muskets with sliding lockplates that could fire off the top load, then be moved back for the second, third, fourth etc. But the REALLY cool one he made was built on the Roman Candle model. He made up various examples of it, and the coolest part was that a number were purchased by the US Navy during the War of 1812, and issued out to the big 44-gun Frigates and used in the Fighting Tops.

The basic concept was that a multi-barreled swivel-gun was made up, looking remarkably like a later Gatling Gun, but fitted with a flintlock near the front. Each of the .69" barrels was loaded carefully with first powder, then a specially molded bullet which had a hole cast in the center of it communicating from one charge to the next. There was also a touch-hole which communicated between the barrels at the top, so that when the trigger was pulled and the flintlock ingited the first round in the first barrel, then the first round in the next barrel would go off, then the next, etc. And those would in turn set off the charges behind them, until the piece was empty.

One can imagine the effect, both in front of and behind the gun.

After a few test runs, it was decided that the swivel-yoke holding the gun needed to be held into place with more than just gravity, so a cotter-pin/wedge sort of arrangement was devised to keep it from removing itself from it's housing during operation.

There isn't a lot of information on them, other than what William Gilkerson has come up with in "Boarders Away: With Fire", but what he gleaned is pretty interesting. There was a fair amount of secrecy in their manufacture and issue, but it is known that they were used in combat at least several times, as the British complained about it. The standard tactic seems to have been to hold off on firing it until the ships were locked together, then aim at the enemy's quarter-deck and pull the trigger. The standard "Fire-hose/Spray-and-pray" method seems to have been the most popular. And though it wasn't exactly firing out at modern machine-gun rates, still, it would empty something like 168 bullets in under a minute and a half, so it was pretty impressive for the day. And I'm sure the targets were pretty impressed, too.

There aren't a lot of remaining models, but one is in the Dutch Naval Museum of all places, and it's a "pocket model" rather than full sized like the American versions. Perhaps it was a sales model, or a spy's model, but in any event it's a nifty little piece. The American versions are big, with musket-length barrels, and weighed at least as much as a bronze swivel gun would have. Whether or not they would have been more effective than a swivel-gun with a charge of cannister or not is debateable, but they sure are cool. But just not the sort of thing you could really reload in combat, which was no doubt the main failing of them.

Anyway, I thought you would be interested in this angle of the superimposed types of firearms.

Cheers!

Gordon