LOCK, STOCK AND 10 SMOKING BARRELS
THERE are times when old ideas, considered outdated, can be revisited in the face of a new and changing landscape. Sometimes these concepts can receive a new lease of life and once more make an impact. Just as often, however, they meet with failure and a harsh reminder of why they fell out of favour to begin with.
The Royal Armouries’ collection holds an unfortunate example of the latter. At its core, it is a volley pistol working in a similar manner to the Nock volley gun of the Napoleonic Wars, made popular in the hands of Sergeant Harper in the Sharpe series of novels and television films.
Unlike its blackpowder ancestor, this pistol fires the now ubiquitous .22 in Long Rifle cartridge, and can carry 10 rounds chambered in two nests of five rifled barrels. The critical question of how these cartridges are all shot simultaneously comes from their interesting mounting system within the pistol itself.
The cartridges are fitted to a holder made of two pieces. The front part of this holder retains the rims of the cartridges, and has a pair of anvils, one for each nest of barrels. These anvils are linked to each cartridge space by a series of channels, and provide the dual-ignition system that allows this pistol to function – the force of a detonated cap is directed into the rims of the cartridges through these channels.
Fitting the cartridges to the pistol is a simple affair, with the action being a break-open type similar to a side-byside shotgun, though in this case it is locked by a sliding and rotating bolt, as opposed to the more conventional lever systems. Meanwhile, the actions are operated by external cocks, both fired by a single trigger.
This pistol comes from the mind of Giuseppe Testa, a resident of New York in the early years of the 20th century. Little is known about Testa, however it appears that his idea for a pistol took up a good portion of his time. His first patent for the system was granted in 1899, numbered 684016. This earlier model had each cartridge fired by its own firing pin, struck by blocks linked to each hammer, a vastly more complicated system than the later version displayed here.
Curiously, Testa applied for a patent for his newer model, number 185841, in August 1917, four months after the US entered World War I. With such timing one has to wonder whether Testa, having heard of the brutal, close-quarters fighting of the Western Front, had chosen to revisit his design for potential use by American troops.
It is clear that any success Testa may have hoped for never materialised. If he had intended for this pistol to be used in the trenches of war, he had unfortunately been beaten to the punch by shotguns, sub-machine guns and automatic rifles. In the end, Giuseppe Testa’s volley pistol serves only as a reminder that some ideas may be best left in the past.
The Testa pistol can be viewed by appointment at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, the national museum of arms and armour.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Pre-booking essential.
Tel 0113 220 1916; royalarmouries.org