Nock Gun

The Nock Gun was a seven-barreled flintlock firearm produced briefly for the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, and a rare example of a handheld volley gun. The first three examples were rifled, but all others were smoothbore: around 608 more were made, with 500 being for the Royal Navy. Civilian variants were also made for fowl hunting. It was invented by the firm of Henry Nock, for the purpose of arming snipers in the rigging of ships: the weapon essentially uses the undesirable "chain-fire" phenomenon of black-powder revolvers by design, with the flash from the number 1 barrel being allowed to propagate into the others to set them off at more or less the same time. Nock believed that it would allow British sailors to fire devastating volleys onto the decks of enemy ships during close-quarter engagements, but manufacture was discontinued after only a small number were produced.
The weapon proved to be impractical for a number of reasons, chief among them being the recoil: the force of seven half-inch barrels, firing simultaneously, was enough to dislocate or break the shoulder bone of a man using it and made the weapon nearly impossible to aim. Orders were later given to load the gun with only a half-charge, which bought the recoil under control but made the weapon useless for its intended purpose and little more than a giant shotgun. In the heat of battle it was also not unknown for sailors to forget which barrels had powder in them, making it very easy to accidentally double-load the gun, a problem compounded by one or more barrels frequently failing to fire. Additionally, for someone firing from high in the rigging of a ship, the gun greatly increased the risks of being knocked down and plunging to the deck, or accidentally setting fire to the sails (one of the reasons why Nelson refused to allow his captains to post snipers of any kind in their rigging during the Battle of Trafalgar).
This is not the only "Nock Gun," simply the most well-known: Nock was a prolific gunmaker who was well-known for his double-barrel shotguns and duelling pistols, and is thought to have done work for Elisha Collier. He also invented a very similar-looking musket to the classic Nock gun, this one a pepperbox rifle with six barrels that were manually rotated. Nock's company continued after his death in 1804, run by his son-in-law James Wilkinson, eventually becoming Wilkinson Sword.
As with most antique weapons, Nock guns seen in live-action productions are quite likely to be modern replicas or non-functional props. 
The Nock Gun has been seen in the following used by the following actors:
==Specifications==
*Barrel length: 20 inches (508 mm)
*Caliber: .52 Caliber (13.2 mm)
*Action: Flintlock
*Rate of fire: 7 rounds per discharge, several minutes to reload
*Feed system: Muzzle-loaded
==Films==
Title 	Actor 	Character 	Note 	Date
The Alamo 	Richard Widmark 	Jim Bowie 	 	1960
The Living Daylights 	 	 	Seen in Brad Whitaker's weapon collection	1987
Sharpe's Company 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1994
Sharpe's Company 	Pete Postlethwaite	Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill	 	1994
Sharpe's Company 	Sean Bean 	Richard Sharpe 	 	1994
Sharpe's Honour 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1994
Sharpe's Gold 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1994
Sharpe's Battle 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1995
Sharpe's Sword 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1995
Sharpe's Regiment 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1996
Sharpe's Siege 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1996
Sharpe's Mission 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1996
Sharpe's Revenge 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1997
Sharpe's Waterloo 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	1997
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	 	British sailors 	 	2003
Sharpe's Challenge 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	2006
My Name Is Bruce 	 	A townsperson 	 	2007
Sharpe's Peril 	Daragh O'Malley 	Patrick Harper 	 	2008
Jonah Hex 	 	 	Seen in Smith's armory 	2010
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 	Dominic Cooper 	Henry Sturgess 	 	2012
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 	Gemma Arterton 	Gretel 	 	2013
Forbidden Empire 	Jason Flemyng 	Jonathan Green 	 	2014
Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask 	 	 	 	2019
==Television==
Title 	Actor 	Character 	Note 	Date
The Young Riders 	Stephen Baldwin	William F. "Billy" Cody 	"The Kid" (S1E1) 	1989
The Young Riders 	Josh Brolin 	James Butler "Jimmy" Hickok	"The Kid" (S1E1) 	1989
Banshee - Season 2	 	 	Seen in Proctor's illegal weapon arsenal (S2E8)	2014
==Anime==
Show Title	Character	Notation	Date
InuYasha 	Renkotsu 	 	2000-2004
==Video Games==
Title 	Appears as 	Note 	Release Date
Gun 	 	8-barreled 	2005
Days Gone	"Nock Volley"	Incorrectly depicted as a breech-loading, break-action shotgun loaded via speedloader	2019
Category:Gun
Category:Rifle
Category:Muzzleloader