Pepperboxes
Not quite pistols and not quite revolvers, a pepperbox is a multibarreled repeating weapon with rotating barrels. They were quite popular prior to the wide proliferation of true revolvers in the 1840s and 1850s, and experienced a revival as small back up weapons in the late 1800s. Early pepperboxes were rotated by hand each shot, while later ones rotated when the trigger was pulled or the hammer was cocked. Pepperboxes came in both double action and single, though unlike double action revolvers, DA pepperboxes were double action only, forcing a long, heavy trigger pull every shot. Pepperboxes were cheap to manufacture, and often had smooth instead of rifled barrels, as they were intended for use shot from the hip at very close range. Note that the "leave an empty chamber" rule of revolvers also applies to pepperboxes.

Volley Guns
Volley guns resemble pepperboxes very closely at first glance. However, while pepperboxes fire one barrel at a time, a volley gun empties them all at once. Obviously, this has advantages and disadvantages.


Both Pepperboxes and Volley Guns came in both muzzleloading designs and pinfire cartridges.



Manhattan Pepperbox
Six barrel .32 caliber pinfire pepperbox.


Apache Revolver
Six barrel .27 caliber pinfire pepperbox with folding bayonet. Also folds into brass knuckles.


Pocket Volley Gun
Any pistol size volley gun varying from .20 to .40 caliber and having from 2 to 8 barrels.


Nock Gun
A 7 barreled .52 caliber volley rifle.

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