HighValleyRanch
New member
What about the COP .357.
Isn't that similar?
Isn't that similar?
Pepperboxes?
- Thread starter Drae
- Start date
There have been many schemes for making a repeating pistol, none especially good. They usually gain compactness, such as a gun that is shorter overall for a given barrel length, at the cost of extra mass. Mostly, any benefit is in the mind of the seller and, presumably, the buyer.
Jim
Jim
Cheapshooter
New member
Call me crazy, but sometimes I want something just because it's weird! Still looking for a USFA Zip!
Driftwood Johnson
New member
Howdy
Did somebody say Pepperbox?
This little four barrel Sharps Pepperbox was made sometime in the 1870s. Chambered for 22 Shorts, it will not take anything longer.
To load it you push up the latch at the front.
Then you slide the barrels forward.
There is a ratchet on the hammer that rotates the firing pin around 90 degrees every time the hammer is cocked. There is a tiny front sight, and a groove on the rear of the frame for a rear sight.
Of course, aiming would have been rudimentary with this little gun, it was only meant for close quarters, not much more than a card table away.
Not too long ago, Navy Arms was importing a replica chambered for 22 Long Rifle.
Did somebody say Pepperbox?
This little four barrel Sharps Pepperbox was made sometime in the 1870s. Chambered for 22 Shorts, it will not take anything longer.
To load it you push up the latch at the front.
Then you slide the barrels forward.
There is a ratchet on the hammer that rotates the firing pin around 90 degrees every time the hammer is cocked. There is a tiny front sight, and a groove on the rear of the frame for a rear sight.
Of course, aiming would have been rudimentary with this little gun, it was only meant for close quarters, not much more than a card table away.
Not too long ago, Navy Arms was importing a replica chambered for 22 Long Rifle.
Bill DeShivs
New member
The Sharps is not a true pepperbox.
Pepperbox barrels rotate.
Pepperbox barrels rotate.
Driftwood Johnson
New member
Howdy
Two excellent videos about the Allen and Thurber Pepperboxes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnirpFYdqrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5YB6dwl9rU
Two excellent videos about the Allen and Thurber Pepperboxes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnirpFYdqrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5YB6dwl9rU
Bob Wright
New member
Many years ago my Dad came into a pistol via some obscure means that was a four barreled pistol. The gun looked like a small pocket auto pistol. The firing pint rotated, much like the cylinder of a revolver to fire each barrel. While this one was Italian made, Mossberg once made such a pistol.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
Yes I see what you mean.....I don't think that one ever existed in history.
I'm sitting here looking at a book on pepper boxes and see none that look like that 1851 Cabela's extended cylinder number , Pietta just made that one up....calling it "historical " is a big stretch of the imagination.
Gary
Bill DeShivs
New member
Bob Wright-
That would have been the Eig copy of the Mossberg Brownie.
That would have been the Eig copy of the Mossberg Brownie.
Bob Wright
New member
Likely so. I found no trace of any marking or serial number. Best way to describe is an auto-pistol look-alike with a top break. It was chrome with ivory like plastic grips. And oversize .22 chambers, as .22 L.R. cases split when fired.
Bob Wright
Bob Wright
New member
There is a very fine line in the descriptions of firearms, even the most "expert" of experts often disagree. Good case case in point is the US Army's classing the M-1 carbine as a carbine, when in fact it has all the characteristics of a light rifle. And the Bren gun, machine gun or automatic rifle?
You are going to find that in the field of firearms, and opinions, there are no absolutes. But all are respected.
Bob Wright
One thing that distinguishes a "pepperbox" from a revolver is the rotating and locking mechanism. One major advance in the Colt was the bolt and hand mechanism which provided a positive positioning of the cylinder and kept the alignment during the firing cycle. Most pepperboxes that I have seen have a much less positive lockup and the hammer fall is not always at the right place.
(Note that in a pepperbox, unlike a revolver, there is no problem with barrel-cylinder alignment, since the barrel cluster is simply an elongated cylinder, but the positioning of the nipples still is important for firing.)
Jim
(Note that in a pepperbox, unlike a revolver, there is no problem with barrel-cylinder alignment, since the barrel cluster is simply an elongated cylinder, but the positioning of the nipples still is important for firing.)
Jim
Model12Win
Moderator
Not sure why all the hate for the Pietta pepperbox.
They aren't claiming it's a repro of anything. I know people that own them and love them.
They aren't claiming it's a repro of anything. I know people that own them and love them.
Well, Cabela's is a bit disingenuous when they say "Own a piece of history..." in the description. But, they're really only referring to pepperboxes in general. They are historic.
I have one, and I like it. I wouldn't have bought it if I couldn't fit a regular 1851 cylinder and barrel to it as well. I actually bought a used pietta 1851 snubby for the thunderer grip to put on a pepperbox, before I bought it. Now I have an 1851 snubby with a regular grip (more historical) and a thunderer grip pepperbox (total bastard). I'm going to go total steampunk and mount a laser sight on the pepperbox. Perhaps on the grip. Life is good!
Driftwood Johnson
New member
Try googling Sharps Pepperbox sometime. That pistol was commonly known as a pepperbox as well as a derringer.
I thought it would be interesting to post some photos of it.
Apparently you disagree.
OldMarksman
Staff
From the NRA Museum:
"The story of the Sharps four-barrel pistol begins, officially, on December 18, 1849. On that date, the United States Patent Office issued patent number 6960 for a revolver to Christian Sharps, then residing in Washington, D.C. This "revolver" was, actually, not a revolver at all, but a pepperbox in which the barrels didn't revolve! It was fired by a striker which did revolve, though, on a center post to hit, in sequence, the percussion caps which were placed on nipples on the ends of the barrels. The side hammer served both as a cocking lever and as the force behind the striker.
"The pistol was not produced on a commercial basis until 1859, after Sharps had become sole owner of the Fairmont Rifle Works in West Philadelphia. By this time, the metallic cartridge had been introduced and Sharps was able to develop his design into a practical repeating pistol. Patent number 22753 was issued to Sharps on January 25, 1859, again for a "revolver". The first model was .22 caliber. Made with a brass frame, it had a spur or stud trigger, and was a single-action, four-shot repeater. Approximately 85,000 of these little pepperboxes were made in the ten years between 1859 and 1868."
"The pistol was not produced on a commercial basis until 1859, after Sharps had become sole owner of the Fairmont Rifle Works in West Philadelphia. By this time, the metallic cartridge had been introduced and Sharps was able to develop his design into a practical repeating pistol. Patent number 22753 was issued to Sharps on January 25, 1859, again for a "revolver". The first model was .22 caliber. Made with a brass frame, it had a spur or stud trigger, and was a single-action, four-shot repeater. Approximately 85,000 of these little pepperboxes were made in the ten years between 1859 and 1868."
Model12Win
Moderator
Sharpes is making them again (4 bbl).
Bill DeShivs
New member
Thank you, Old Marksman, for making my point.
Model 12- the only company that I know of "making" a 4 barreled pistol is Iver Johnson-and no one has seen a production model yet.
Model 12- the only company that I know of "making" a 4 barreled pistol is Iver Johnson-and no one has seen a production model yet.