Flintlock nine barrel, pepperbox revolver, by John Twigg, England, 18th century

A brass plaque engraved "With Grateful Acknowledgement to Capt. McCullem from the Merchants of Glasgow oct 1787 14th" is set into the lid of the rosewood case. Complete with several accessories, including an ivory powder flask with engraved marine motifs, an engraved bullet mould, a barrel key with ivory grip, an ivory ramrod, a pewter oil flask and a lead ladle.

Seven shot flintlock pepperbox revolver, English, early 19th century

from Rock Island Auctions

Flintlock nine barrel, pepperbox revolver, by John Twigg, England, 18th century

A brass plaque engraved "With Grateful Acknowledgement to Capt. McCullem from the Merchants of Glasgow oct 1787 14th" is set into the lid of the rosewood case. Complete with several accessories, including an ivory powder flask with engraved marine motifs, an engraved bullet mould, a barrel key with ivory grip, an ivory ramrod, a pewter oil flask and a lead ladle.

Source: invaluable.com via: tumblr.com/ltwilliammowett

Pistols on Tables

More photos from the pop-up firearms exhibit at the Rock County Historical Society. 

I was writing a page for the Critical Role Wiki about firearms, (you can read it here by the way) and it made me realize that Percy like, basically immediately made some of the most complicated guns you could right out of the gate.

Like, The List is the first gun ever made. and he made it a flintlock, six cylinder pepperbox revolver! His second gun ever, Bad News, was a breach-loading wheellock musket!

Ripley’s first gun, the third gun ever made, Retort, was a 4-cylinder flintlock revolver. A flintlock revolver! Which by the way, did you know actually existed? They were invented in the 1820′s by a guy named Elisha Collier. They looked like this:

This is the third gun to ever be made in Exandria! It’s no wonder Percy’s guns break all the time, look how complicated they are!

On the subject of gunslinger paladins, let's talk about their guns. Obviously it'll all come down to personal choice, with some favouring pistols or long arms, but the general image seems to choose modern revolvers (as opposed to pepperbox or flintlock revolvers). So, is this more the effect of a shiny Peacemaker being the western equivalent of a katana or atming sword, or does it have something to do with their specific advantages (greater reliability and durability)? And what of autorevolvers?

Well, I think it’s to do with what weapons are traditionally associated with. People in general care less in a sotry involving weapons about what’s the most effective realistically and more about the weapon’s personality and it’s extension of the character who wields it. 

If a character wields something that’s mass produced, identical to the bland industrial tools other have at their disposal, then this isn’t a paladin/hero/protagonist that’s illustrating their character into the world around them. But if someone’s carrying a familiar and potent symbol of a weapon, Excalibur, the Master Sword, The Last Word, The Sandalwood Guns, etc, people can see part of the story in the extension of their weapons. 

And whether it’s a familiarity or part of an unfolding story, certain symbolisms are oft repeated. If we see repetition and echoes in stories, it’s because writers know what affects people.

Machinist Lore: Firearm Origins and Prominent Designs - Part 2

Hey everyone! I’m back with another lore post for machinists! You can find part one right <here> . It goes into detail about Allagans and Garleans, as well as the types of guns we see today IC. For this post I will be transcribing guns that we find as dungeon drops or as artifacts from page 205.

Quick Silver: “Desiring a weapon unlike any that had come before it, a wealthy Ul’dahn socialite commissioned Gerolt Blackthorn to create him a dueling pistol. Not overly familiar with the mechanics of firearms, Gerolt simply copied the design of a traditional culverin, adding a few embellishments to the stock and barrel so that his client might not soon become wise to his ruse. That said, being a creation of mastersmith Blackthorn, the quality of the resulting product was unarguably second to none, despite its run-of-the-mill origins.”

Gjallarhorn: “Named for a mythical battle born whose blast could “be heard in all worlds,” and decorated with an elaborate web of iron wyrmrings and pair of all-seeing eyes, the compact firearm is another relic from an age in which man and dragon put their differences aside to live together in harmony. Why such a powerful weapon was needed in a time of peace is a question that may never be answered.”

Blue Steel: “A portable flintlock carried by House Haillenarte cannon operators, Blue Steel has fixed to its barrel a short bayonet that can be used in close-quarter encounters when reloading is no longer possible - a feature that has earned this style of firearm the name “knifelock.”

Kunitomo: “A matchlock musket of Far Eastern design, this particular firearm was crafted in Kunitomo, a region of Hingashi renowned for its gunsmiths. While the isolationist bakufu strictly prohibits the export of these weapons to the mainland, several have found their way to Doma and beyond, where they are quickly bought up by collectors and locked away from prying eyes.”

Nightsteel Blunderbuss: “Created at Ishgard’s Skysteel Manufactory, the nightsteel blunderbuss is not actually a blunderbuss - a type of firearm that is defined by its long, flared bore - but a modern handgonne. It earned this misnomer from the retractable flared scope which rests above the barrel.”

Armageddon: “This jet black revolver crafted by Gerolt Blackthorn employs a pepperbox firing system that, instead of rotating a multi-chamber cylinder around a single barrel, sees the firearm’s triune barrels revolve around a single axis. The reservatory affixed above the stock serves to house synthetic souls of Allagan design known as “anima.”

Outsider: “Another of the Skysteel Manufactory’s creations, Outsider employs a revolutionary drum-shaped magazine that is able to hold up to ten times more ammunition than a traditional revolver. For many years following its conceptualization, the invention remained shelved in a Machinists’ Guild storeroom, its approval for mass production consistently denied by the Holy See’s more conservative officials.”

Allagan Pistol: “The Allagan pistol - standard-issue weaponry for the empire’s infantry in the late Third Astral Era - uses a complex crystal injection system that sends concentrated wind energy into an atherochemical accelerator where it is simplified to increase maximum projectile velocity.”

Magnatus: “One of two gifts (the second being the bow, Kaman) presented to Anshelm Cotter by a Near Eastern emissary at the great unifier’s coronation ceremony. The word “magnatus” can be translated from the Ilsabardian into “baron”, “magnate”, or “great man”, a detail that most certainly pleased the newly crowned regent. As to whether its beauty also rendered Anshelm speechless, history leaves surprisingly no mention.”

Deathlocke: “Deathlocke is the culmination of countless moons of research, reforging, and refining by mastersmith Gerolt Blackthorn. Whereas the anima vessel in its predecessor, the Armageddon, required quarantine from the main body of the weapon, no such separation is required in this marvel of Allagan technology recreated for a new age.”

 Aaand there ya go! Page 205 transcribed. I hope you all enjoyed this post and were able to find it useful for your character(s). There is another section for Machinist gear that I might transcribe as well. 

Seven shot flintlock hand revolving pepperbox pistol, Henry Nock of London circa 1800.

from Holt’s Auctioneers

The Evolution of the Pepperbox to the Modern Revolver

One of the first practical and popular revolver designs was the pepperbox, a type of pistol that had been made previously for centuries. Unlike a modern revolver, the pepperbox does not have one single barrel, but instead has a cluster of barrels.  Typically percussion, but also in flintlock and the rare matchlock, the pepperbox was a clumsy and unreliable weapon.  Though small and concealable, it's multiple barrels caused it to be heavy, unwieldy, and inaccurate.  Each barrel had to be loaded with loose bullet and powder by hand, and it was not uncommon for multiple barrels to discharge simultaneously, a disastrous event when it occurred.

In the 1820's a French gun designer named Casimir Lefaucheux invented the pinfire self contained cartridge, one of the first successful self contained cartridges in the world.  Makers of pepperbox pistols soon realized that they no longer needed clusters of large barrels, but rather a short cylinder mounted on a frame.  After all pepperboxes were not made for accuracy by concealability.  Since they were pinfire, they no longer needed to be loaded from the muzzle.  Instead the frame could break open were either the cylinder could be loaded by the breech with cartridges, or removed entirely and replaced with preloaded cylinders.  The result was a shortened  pepperbox that was more concealable and a further step towards the modern revolver

Eventually by the 1830's gun makers had the idea of turning the earlier Lefaucheux pepperbox into a full sized pistol.  They mounted a single barrel on the frame around which the cylinder would revolve around and align with when fired.  The addition of the longer barrel increased the accuracy of Lefaucheux pepperboxes and would provide inspiration for a man named Samuel Colt to invent the modern revolver.

When Samuel Colt invented the what is now considered the first modern revolver design, he studied many earlier revolver designs, including the pinfire Lefaucheux revolver.  Among the features accepted for his new  revolver was the idea of having a revolving cylinder that aligned with a single barrel.  However, he improved the design by morphing the cylinder into a perfectly round object rather than just a cluster of barrels. He also rejected the use of pinfire cartridges.  While revolutionary, they were far too expensive for the average person to purchase.  The result was the Colt Paterson, a far sturdier, more reliable, lighter, and more compact type of revolver. 

Of course the Colt design would continued to be improved with the addition of centerfire metallic cartridges and the double action trigger.  Lefaucheux himself would update his revolver designs to better reflect Colt's philosophy of design.

However, all modern revolvers owe their existence to the ancestor Lefaucheux pinfire revolver pepperbox.