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Have you...as a firearms enthusiast...ever had a dream or vision on how to improve a firearms capabilities? Well even if you have, I'll bet that its already been thought of, and not only that but has even been manufactured at some point too. This handgun is a classic example of what I mean, an eighteen shot, triple barrelled revolver that the Italians call Pistola Con Caricato (Overload Pistol.)
The revolver was manufactured during the late 1920's or early 30's and is an interesting antique, but what makes it more interesting is the fact that the cylinder actually holds eighteen cartridges. The revolver was even more unique in that it could fire three shots at a time with one pull of the trigger. Having this gun pointed at you would be quite intimidating too...looking down three barrels...
This then is an antique Italian (not Spanish or Belgium as some websites refer) eighteen shot, triple barrelled revolver. It had a caliber of 6.35mm or what Americans would call a twennyfive as it is designated a .25 caliber in the U.S.A. When the gun was fired it actually shot three bullets simultaneously and it could do this...firing three bullets at once...six times consecutively! This was actually a great design in that you had three times more chance of hitting your target, as the bullets would spread out slightly as they left the muzzle. The image below clearly shows the three firing pins in the end breech plate that would simultaneously strike the cartridges primers to fire the rounds off.
----------------------------------------------- UPDATE New information has been gleaned that there was a fire selector switch behind the hammer, shown below, that orientated how the revolver actually fired. When in the central position it would fire the rounds in the inner chamber only, when pushed to the left it would fire a single round from the outer chambers through the left barrel and when pushed right it would fire rounds from the outer chambers through the right barrel only.
The selector could apparently be disengaged to fire from all three barrels in a three shot cluster. The fire selector lever also acted as a safety in that it could totally block off the firing pins, so that the revolver could not be fired. Quite impressive technology for the mid 1900's, the kind of selector lever one finds on modern day Glock or SIG pistols. ---------------------------------------------- The way that this revolver was loaded was quite unique as well, in fact the method was quite ingenious. It was loaded by inserting the eighteen cartridges into a separate removable cylinder plate, as shown below...
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Vince's Worthwhile Website is powered by HostGator. Need I say More? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ...these cartridges were then held in place by swinging round a blanking plate that fixed behind it. This in effect now became a magazine and the whole plate with its loaded cartridges was then neatly placed over the revolvers main cylinder in one swift movement. Several of these loaded plates could of course be carried by the guns owner in a special pouch on the belt.
To expose the revolvers cylinder, it was broken open similar in method to the old Webley and Smith & Wesson Russian revolvers. The revolver was then closed and it all locked in place, the hammer could then be cocked and she was ready to fire.
I am not sure if this gun was a single or double action revolver, but by the size of the side plate housing I would estimate that it was a double action design. For those not familiar with firearms, double action meant that it could be fired by pulling the trigger without the need to cock the hammer first...pulling the trigger cocked the hammer for you. When the revolver was first manufactured it was blued or acid dyed black and over the many years this has worn off or been deliberately removed and then polished. This was the trend with some gun owners and to some degree, still is today although the range of finishes for a gun is more varied than it was decades ago. Back then to our eighteen shot revolver, there still appears to be some blueing around the underside of the barrel, so if it was removed on purpose, they didn't do a very neat job of it!
The revolvers caliber of only 6.35mm or .25 is not a very powerful round to fire, but if you had three of them hitting their intended target at the same time then of course the inflicted damage would be more severe from only being hit by one bullet. We can hardly forget too, that there would have been the possibility of another salvo of shots being fired, fifteen of them, in multiples of three!
I would not, however, class it as a powerful revolver in the slightest sense, due to its puny caliber. It has been proved that .25's do not have the stopping power even in multiples, and over distance this is reduced even further.
With the advent of modern body armor however, the .25 is
as lethal as a kids pea shooter or plastic BB gun unless a close range
headshot is administered during the shoot out.
A near actual size of a .22
The best place for a revolver like this antiquated
eighteen
shot Italian piece is consignment to a museum, where in all probability
this piece resides today. If the owner of this unique antique is reading
this webpage then I would tell them to insure it for about $800.
At a proper firearms auction like those held by Christies or Sotheby's,
with the piece being well advertised in advance then it may be worth a
lot more, due to its uniqueness.
Page created April 22nd 2011. Update February October 25th 2012 |
With this revolvers capability to deliver
a barrage, a whole salvo of bullets in rapid succession then I would
class it as a formidable gun, well a half decent one anyway, especially
at close range. Its high rate of fire is quite unprecedented, its
a very impressive piece, and deserves its place on my websites
Interesting Firearms section.
I
would state that eighteen .25 caliber slugs hitting you in
rapid succession would be fatally unpleasant though. Lets not
forget that even a tiny .22 short bullet has killed people in the
past.
Even a .177 air rifle has been reported to have killed a child, a case
was reported not so long ago in the U.K. So please respect the
lethality of all ammunition, as regardless of caliber, as they are
all lethal at close range.
