Nock gun
| Nock gun | |
|---|---|
| Type | Volley gun |
| Place of origin |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service history | |
| In service | Royal Navy 1782–1804 |
| Used by | United Kingdom |
| Wars | Napoleonic Wars |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1779 |
| Specifications | |
| Barrel length | 20 inches (510 mm) |
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|
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| Caliber | .46 inches (12 mm) |
| Barrels | 7 |
| Action | Flintlock, multiple barrel |
| Rate of fire | Seven rounds per discharge, reloading rate variable |
| Muzzle velocity | Variable |
| Effective firing range | Variable |
| Feed system | Muzzle-loaded |
The Nock gun was a seven-barrelled flintlock smoothbore firearm used by the Royal Navy during the early stages of the Napoleonic Wars. It is a type of volley gun adapted for ship-to-ship fighting, but was limited in its use because of the powerful recoil and eventually discontinued.
Its bizarre appearance and operation has led to it being portrayed in modern fictional works, notably in The Alamo feature film, and the Richard Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell.
The weapon was invented by British engineer James Wilson in 1779, and named after Henry Nock, the London-based armaments manufacturer contracted to build the gun. It was intended to be fired from the rigging of Royal Navy warships onto the deck in the event that the ship was boarded by enemy sailors. Theoretically, the simultaneous discharge of seven barrels would have devastating effect on the tightly packed groups of enemy sailors.
The volley gun consisted of seven barrels welded together, with small vents drilled through from the central barrel to the other six barrels clustered around it. The central barrel screwed onto a hollow spigot which formed the chamber and was connected to the vent.
The gun operated using a standard flintlock mechanism, with the priming gunpowder igniting the central charge via a small vent. When the flash reached the central chamber, all seven charges ignited at once, firing more or less simultaneously.
The first models featured rifled barrels, but this made loading a long and cumbersome process, resulting in all following models being manufactured with smoothbore barrels.
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Wikipedia