Watch: The Ten Most Bizarre Guns Ever Made

This video purports to show us “the 10 most bizarre guns ever designed.” It’s obviously put together by folks who don’t know a heck of a lot about guns–and it slips in a number of images that don’t really belong–but it does show some odd guns.

10: The humongous punt gun (a huge shotgun designed for the commercial hunting of waterfowl; it was used to blast hell out of flocks of ducks as they fed on the water). The gun is so big and heavy that it was usually mounted to a flat-bottomed boat known as a punt (hence the name).

9: Harmonica gun. In this example, they show us a handgun that uses a harmonica-style sliding chamber block to allow it to function as a repeater. Harmonica rifles were also built; check out this one made by John Browning’s father, who invented the harmonica action).

8: Hunting trousse gun. This is a large chopping knife with a wheel-lock gun built along the spine of the blade.

7: Duck’s foot gun. A multi-shot pistol with four barrels that fan out rather than being parallel.

6: Ring revolver. A tiny .22-caliber revolver that doubles as jewelry (and predates James Bond).

5: Key guns. The key gun is a popper that can also function as a key. You can also check out this one.

4: LeMat revolver. Known as the “grapeshot” revolver, this gun has a revolving cylinder that rotated around a shotgun barrel. Can you say, “Awesome?”

You can check out a few LeMats (including a shoulder-fired rifle version) here, and learn more about the pseudo-LeMat used by Ed Harris in WestWorld here.

The video claims this gun was favored by Confederate soldiers during the War Between the States, but that’s not accurate. The LeMat was costly and unreliable, and neither trait suits a soldier.

3: Disposable pistols. The Liberator pistol was a cheaply-made single-shot 45 ACP handgun, which was designed to be used by WW2 resistance fighters to allow them to kill a soldier in order to get a better gun.

2: Periscope rifle. These guns were meant to allow a soldier to fire from a trench or other covered position without exposing his head to enemy fire. You can check out an interesting Mauser version here.

1: Gustav rail cannon. It’s a big one!

Are all of these guns truly bizarre? Maybe not, but I find them all interesting. I think you will too.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.