Nock Volley gun

[McLeanWelsh]

Evening everyone, Ive really been enthralled by the nock volley gun since I first laid eyes on it. The rifle shoppe has a kit for it. I am considering one of these for my second project after I build a more normal rifle from them.

What are your impressions on this kit ? I would love to see some pictures of any thats people have built or any originals.

Also whats it like to shoot! haha

Cheers, McLean

[Mike Brooks]

I sure wouldn't want the job of soldering all those barrels together.

[McLeanWelsh]

Neither do i! Does the rifle shoppe build whole rifles too ? If i got this kit i would either ask them to do it or somebody else cause i dont have a clue whereto start with that.

Mclean

[Acer Saccharum]

Ed Rayle solders doubles together. He might be a place to start.

[Jack Hubbard]

I think there is one in the Huntington Galleries in Huntington W. Va....Part of the Dean collection....

[Don Getz]

I am willing to bet that the Rifle Shop has probably copied the one that Kit Ravenshear did years ago.    I made the set
of barrels....round, tapered, in 50 cal.     The center barrel was rifled and was turned with flanges front and rear, which
were fitted to six sommothbores around it.    The center barrel was set up to be fired with a flint lock, and the other six
barrels surrounding the middle one were vented from the middle barrels so that they all went off at one time.   A few of
us locals did get to shoot it.    It was loaded with about 15-20 grains of FF, with a .490 ball in each barrel, which may not
seem like much, but when you are pushiing over 1300 grains of lead, you do get some recoil.   It shot about a 12" pattern
at 25 yeards.  I have no idea who might own this gun now, but it was fun, just anothr of Kit's crazy gun building.........Don

[blunderbuss]

If one of the barrels failed to fire how would you clear it?

[Don Getz]

Good question, not my gun.    Seems like it would have been rather easy to get a double load in a barrel.    On the day
that we shot it, several times, we did not encounter any of those probelms,  but I can see how it could happen.......Don

[bob in the woods]

For what it does, wouldn't a larger bore single barrel with a handful of balls be more practical ?  Lighter too !

[Dan'l 1946]

What does one of these weigh?
                      Dan

[Don Getz]

The gun was probably in the 10 pound range, barrels were rather short if I remember correctly.   I remember when they
did a sort of re-enactment up in Erie, Pa., in the area of the ship "Niagara", which had been used in the battle of Lake Erie.
Kit was there and had the volley gun with him.    He allowed one of the reenactors to carry the gun...........he wouldn't put
it down, was in seventh heaven...........Don

[doug]

Evening everyone, Ive really been enthralled by the nock volley gun

What are your impressions on this kit ? I would love to see some pictures of any thats people have built or any originals.

     Send an  email to Steppenwolf over on gunnutz; I am pretty sure he has some photos and a diagram of the breach assembly.  Make sure that you don't use acid core solder on joining the barrels

cheers Doug

[McLeanWelsh]

Thanks everyone, Lots of interesting info. Would certainly be a unique one. Same with the hand mortar the rifle shoppe sells. Shoot tennis balls out of it!

Thanks doug, Ill get ahold of him.

[Gunnermike]

I would love to see some pictures of any thats people have built or any originals.

Here's some photos of one that sold a few years ago on Track o' the Wolf:



Here's an original:


And the business end:


And 2 beautiful Henry Nock commercial versions of 65 bore x 20.5 in. barrels:





Saved the best for last.......one of my favorite photos from another forum; of a guy who was crazy enough to build one also:


At $2000 just for the castings, it's too rich for my blood, so I just collect photos.  Good luck, Mike

[Gunnermike]

One last photo showing of the interior of the lock.  Shows how the lock is formed to fit over the barrel:

[McLeanWelsh]

Great pictures thanks! But seriously, commercial version !? What the heck is that for ? Built back then mabye it was for sweeping the decks of your rivals boat at the sailing club if he took your spot. Or perhaps hunting "herds of deer" haha

Cheers, McLean

[smart dog]

Hi McLean,
The sporting version of the gun was usually 40-45 cal and was used to hunt ducks and geese.  The idea was that the multiple barrels shooting individual round balls would produce a hard hitting pattern at long ranges (>40 yards), something the typical single or double barreled gun loaded with shot could not do very well at the time.  The volley gun was invented by James Wilson but Henry Nock made all of the military versions and most of the sporting models.  The guns had a severe disadvantage because the vent holes for the surrounding barrels were completely hidden and could not be checked or cleaned in the field.  They had to be precisely drilled as well to make the gun reliable.  To do that, the barrels were permanently brazed together and then the vent holes drilled from the outside, going completely through the outside barrels.  The outer hole was then plugged.  That way there was a precisely drilled hole going all the way into the center barrel.  The volley guns where popular with some sportsmen but the dangers of the gun were well known and described.  In fact, there are letters in which the writer states he would never use a volley gun again because it was too dangerous (undetected misfires and double charging) and the recoil was severe.  Nock developed speed loaders that loaded all barrels in one pour.  It looked like a large version of the multi-spout flask made for Colt revolvers.  It helped to make sure barrels were not double loaded.

dave

[McLeanWelsh]

Thanks for the explanation, alot of really interesting info!

Cheers, McLean

[McLeanWelsh]

Just got a call back from the rifle ahoppe ad when you buy the gun the barrels come all soldered togehter already.

Thats great news!

They also said it would be 6-8 weeks till the barrels are in stock.

Wont be ordering one for a while but got the info now.

Mclean.