Seen at church last night.....

[Bob Wright]

It was an old pepperbox, six barreled percussion, double action. This was about .36 caliber, guessing, and a concealed underhammer pistol with a ring trigger. Stock appeared to be old rosewood, blackened with age. The frame was intricately engraved, barels had been blued, frame patina gray. We could find no markings other than a man's name and a word below which we did not recognize as being a city. The name sounded German.

The barrels incidentally, were individual, not an en bloc type.

The story was that his late dad had bought it from a dentist who had taken in as payment of a $10 dentist bill.

Bob Wright

 

[James K]

Pepperboxes were common and popular in both Europe and the U.S. even after the invention of the revolver. Some had barrels drilled in one piece of steel/iron; others had separate barrels bundled together with ribs so as to appear to be one piece; others had separate barrels clearly separated.

They were usually made in what we would call double action only; single action ones and SA/DA ones are known but rare.

While pepperboxes undoubtedly had a high "fear factor", they were heavy and unwieldly. and the DA pull was horrible. Almost needless to say, if any two barrels shot to the same point of aim, it was pretty much coincidence.

More information will have to wait for more details and/or pictures.

Jim

 

[Bob Wright]

Won't likely get more information. That was sort of a one-time show-and-tell thing. (This was at my church, you know.)

I tried to find something on the internet similar to it, but no luck so far. The barrels were individual with sort of a rib running between them, but from the muzzle end there is an opening. Not sure where the front bearing was.

Bob Wright