- Allen and Thurber Pepperbox
Due to editing my story instead of doing research, it’s been
awhile since I posted any historical tidbits. Here’s one from my research for
my story set in the late 1870s. My heroine uses one of these little beauties.
A pepperbox is a type of firearm designed to fire multiple
shots at once. As you can see in the picture, it has six barrels, each holding
a cartridge. (Not all pepperboxes had six barrels. Some had four or five.)
Since all six fired together, even a .22 caliber cartridge could make an
awfully big hole in the target. These weapons were popular among lawmen,
outlaws, gamblers, and…women. They were small enough to conceal in a waistcoat
or reticule. The Continental Arms Company named one of their models the “Ladies
Companion.”