And now a five barreled gun

[mehulkamdar]

A five barreled gun or Funfling now.

Hofer also makes the world's smallest - 1 Kg double rifle.

[Vikram]

That is an interesting gun to say the least.I knew of Peter Hofer's guns.Revisited.Unusual and unsparingly loud.But I like them.

Best-
Vikram

[Grumpy]

And all you have to do is remember which of the three rifle calibres or shotgun you need to use......and which trigger......and how to switch to that trigger. LOL. Interesting idea but not terribly practical.
The little double is cute.....apart from the Stephen Grant style sidelever opening. Plenty of people really like sidelevers though........There`s no accounting for taste !
Thanks for the links Mehul, it`s good to see something really different.
Seeing those doubles has reminded me that I have something really interesting to tell you - email to follow.

[mehulkamdar]

Vikram,

Hofer follows the Germanic/Austrian gunmaking tradition and consequently his rifles have deep relief cut engraving etc which are very different (to say the least) in appearance from understated English guns. For someone well heeled enough, I guess, he would build a rifle with whatever kind of engraving or style they wanted.

Grumpy,

I agree the rifle would need someone with immense concentration to remember which barrel to choose for a particular shot. Considering that the buyers would, most probably be self made technocrat bilionaires, they could be counted on to remember the exact mode of operation. It is a magnificent work of complexity in execution, though, isn't it?

Incidentally, Peter Hofer personally congratulated Ka'imiloa on his engraving at the FEGA Convention this year and I do think that our friend would be called upon to engrave some guns for the Hofer firm very soon.

I shall wait for your e-mail whenever you find time to send it.

Cheers!

[Sakobav]

grumps

its easy to remember barrel size or caliber they have five triggers varying by size/texture its all eye, hand and finger coordination..this is a show piece for bragging rights.

Nice link Mehul

[mehulkamdar]

its easy to remember barrel size or caliber they have five triggers varying by size/texture its all eye, hand and finger coordination..

Navdeep,

It is obvious that you have never been on a driven game or walk up shoot where such a gun would be employed. Using a double in the heat of the moment when you have different chokes and different size shot in the two barrels and remembering to use the right barrel for the right shot could be more than merely difficult. This is not a case of standing at a clay shoot with your gun shouldered and potting away at clays in a pre determined sequence.

Check out a COntinental battue and then I am sure that your opinion would be completely different. The British who were the ultimate shooting sportsmen in history whether it was tigers and leopards shot from machans or grouse or pheasant shot in their own country stuck to doubles out of their experience gained from the field. John DIckson and other gunmakers had multiple barreled guns long before the Continental gunmakers even thought about these. The fact that the British let these designs lapse is a result of their experience gained in the field.

As a masterpiece of technical complexity this is a great creation. To say that it would be "easy" to use as you suggest is not a statement made from experience.

[marksman]

The topic of Multi barreled fire arm reminded me odf an incident when I was looking for a good .22 rifle in 1972., A very known gun dealer who closed shop in late 90's offered me a 5 barrel rifle in.22 lr. It was some german make and I don't recollect the name. Those were the days when hunting wasn't completely banned and he tried explaing that with this .22 rifle shootin big game was also very possible as all 5 bullets left the barrel at once and travelled in a cluster of 1" for atleast 75 yds. The impact would be greater then any buck shot existing. Also, one had an option of shooting a single bullet by loading only one chamber or two or three and so on. It was a bolt action, basically a single shot mechanism that activated all 5 firing pins from the bolt face.I ignored the buy because of the barrel girth as all 5 barrels were encased in one outer blued steel tube and looked like a bull barrel 465 rifle... The workmanship was typical german with colour case hardened bolt and receiver and the works. I never saw or heard of this kind of rifle ever after that. Has any one of you people ever come across this rifle? I almost regret letting it go.
Marksman
Marksman

[mehulkamdar]

A very known gun dealer who closed shop in late 90's offered me a 5 barrel rifle in.22 lr. It was some german make and I don't recollect the name. Those were the days when hunting wasn't completely banned and he tried explaing that with this .22 rifle shootin big game was also very possible as all 5 bullets left the barrel at once and travelled in a cluster of 1" for atleast 75 yds. The impact would be greater then any buck shot existing. Also, one had an option of shooting a single bullet by loading only one chamber or two or three and so on. It was a bolt action, basically a single shot mechanism that activated all 5 firing pins from the bolt face.I ignored the buy because of the barrel girth as all 5 barrels were encased in one outer blued steel tube and looked like a bull barrel 465 rifle... The workmanship was typical german with colour case hardened bolt and receiver and the works. I never saw or heard of this kind of rifle ever after that. Has any one of you people ever come across this rifle? I almost regret letting it go.
Marksman
Marksman

I remember having seen something even better. An airsoft machine gun that fires more than 6000 plastic balls a second. It is considered a perfect way of killing using Gandhian technique - the animal that you fire at gets tickled to death. Even in today's anti hunting climate in India, you could use one and not be arrested as the operation is completely Gandhian. If I didn't have a few guns of my own and enjoy hunting with conventional guns, I would have bought one of these. They are legal and can even be brought back to India as cabin baggage when you fly.

[Mack The Knife]

Mehul,

Stand by for enquiries....

[Grumpy]

That German manufacturer also made a five barrelled gun in which the barrels were mounted one behind the other with a .22 lr in each chamber. The first cartridge was fired which fired the second and so on. A cumulative increase of velocity from each bullet to the next just like a multi-stage rocket. The final bullet had a muzzle velocity of around 6,000 fps and had a very flat trajectory - very handy for shooting straight through thick skinned game. I saw on of these rifles in a dealers in the early `70s but decided againt buying it because of the very long multiple stage barrel - about 10 ft long - which was too unwieldy for my tastes.

[badshah0522]

Veru nice one!!!!

[Sakobav]

Great info mine was a tongue in cheek remark but its interesting read 5 barrel .22 ..

Germans still make those 3 barrel rifles I am forgetting the name

Cheers

[Mack The Knife]

Drilling.

The five barreled one is called Legpulling.

Mack The Knife

[Sakobav]

Mack The Knife

So true..it rhymes drilling, gatling, off course legpulling..

Cheers

[marksman]

Sharing some unusual info on this forum can get one a lot of flakes, I guess. I loved Grumpy's concoction nevertheless and had a hearty laugh. Go on guys, as long as it's a healthy humour.
Marksman