Watch: Oversized British 8-Shot Pepperbox Percussion Pistol

A pepperbox pistol is generally a fairly compact firearm, intended for personal protection more than anything else. The one Ian takes a look at in this video is an anomaly of sorts… it’s larger than usual, larger in caliber, and requires the user to manually turn the barrel assembly before each shot. Not only that, the barrels aren’t arranged in a circular fashion; instead, there are 4 in the center and 4 set outboard of those.

The typical pepperbox revolver is a sleek and small .31 caliber double action pocket gun, like the Allen & Thurber standard type. This one, however, is anything but typical. This London-made gun is a far larger than normal, and sports 8 barrels, with a center square of four and an addition four outside of those. Those barrels are .36 caliber, and the firing mechanism is single action only. In addition, it is unusual in requiring manual indexing of the barrel cluster between shots – most pepperboxes index automatically when the trigger is pulled. I have no further information on the date or original of this piece beyond its ‘London’ marking, and bring it to you as just one example of the wide variety of this sort of firearm that exists.

This large pepperbox seems to be a bargain version… made more simply and more crude than most, and kinda big and clunky as a result. All those percussion nipples sticking out make me want to call this thing ‘the porcupine pistol.’

Hope you enjoy the video.

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.