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Henry Nock made a large number of volley guns and several goose rifles. The one depicted below has seven 20 inch twist barrels and a waterproof pan. The stock is of walnut and this example was sold at Christie's in 1971 for the sum of £1,552.50.

Henry Nock's nine barreled version was intended to have three patched balls loaded into each barrel giving a shot pattern of 27 balls in total. (I have some data and an actual shot pattern somewhere) (NOTE during the page revamp on 25 Nov 2003 I spent several hours looking for this data without any luck).

I do wonder that the handling of these goose rifles may feel somewhat muzzle heavy and that the sheer mass of the barrel cluster at the distance from the point of rotation would cause the moment of inertia to limit the speed of swing. However this is to some extent compensated for by the height at which the geese fly, which reduces the angular acceleration required.

Belgian rolling block goose rifle

Henry Pieper (Belgium) patented this design, which has seven (.22 long) barrels that fire simultaneously producing a close pattern. Another version, that was more common was chambered for .32 long. Loading is thought to have been done using a perforated plate rather like a 'speed loader'. I suspect the handing to have been muzzle heavy, as with other goose rifles. It is a smart and stylish weapon when compared to the Henry Nock version.

Work in progress This is a long term project and may not be completed quickly, however it will grow slowly and this notice will be removed when there is sufficient initial content.

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