Harmonica gun

A ten-shot harmonica pistol at the National Firearms Museum in Virginia, USA

A harmonica gun or slide gun is a firearm design which was breech loaded with a steel slide, containing a number of chambers bored in it that were filled with projectiles. Most harmonica guns are percussion cap guns, although some designs exist for compressed air guns[1][2] and some examples were made in pinfire cartridge form.[3][4] In percussion cap guns, each chamber contains a separate primer, powder charge, and projectile. The slide was inserted in an opening in the breech action and could be advanced by releasing the camlock, and moving the slide by hand. The gun comes in both pistol and rifle models, as well as single-action and double-action.

The earliest example of a harmonica gun is probably the one constructed by the Swiss inventor Welten in 1742.[5]

  1. ^ "Al stone's 2240 auto-loader". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Airgun hobby magazine, july 2011". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  3. ^ "Rare Jarre 10-Shot Pinfire Harmonica Pistol".
  4. ^ "Two Pinfire Harmonica Pistols at RIA". 3 September 2014.
  5. ^ Auguste Demmin; Charles Christopher Black (1877). An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. G. Bell & sons. p. 507.