A Sixteenth Century 16-Shooter

By NRAHQ

By Jim Supica, NRA Museums Director Note: This article was originally posted on NRA Blog

USA -(Ammoland.com)- The Sixteenth Century 16-Shooter might be considered to be the world’s first machine gun.

It is a remarkable wheel-lock dated at around 1580 to 1590 that fires sixteen rounds without reloading – and can fire them all with a single pull of the trigger!

This ornately decorated muzzleloader marks a pinnacle of technical design and craftsmanship for that era. The multiple shots are achieved by superposed loads in a single barrel. The shooter loads the gunpowder and lead ball for the last round first… and then loads another charge of powder and another ball on top of that one. This procedure is repeated 16 times to load the gun.

The secret of the multiple shots from a single barrel is that each oval lead bullet has a hole through it lengthwise, and that hole is filled with gunpowder-like fusing material. The first round to be fired (the last one to be loaded, the one at the muzzle end of the barrel) is ignited by a wheel lock mechanism mounted well forward on the barrel. The charge of …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand