cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/HistoryArtifacts/t/893226

Engraved “Perdition to Conspirators” this 14 barrel gun was made for Colonel Thomas Thornton, a wealthy and flamboyant character in England in the late 18th and early 19th century.

He commanded a militia unit with which he had some disagreement, and which mutinied against his comment at Roborough Camp in 1795. Some years later, he commissioned this quite unique firearm from Dupe & Company of London.

The gun is a single stock with two flintlock actions, two triggers, and two clusters of seven .30 caliber rifled barrels each. Each trigger fires a complete barrel cluster simultaneously…