Volley gun
The Ribauldequin was a medieval version of the volley gun. It had its barrels set up in parallel. This early version was first employed during the Hundred Years' War by the army of Edward III of England, in 1339. Later on, the late Swiss army employed it.
History of the firearm
Self-loaders are firearms that use some of the discharge energy to reload the firearm. These are also called semi or full-automatics. These are typically fed from a tube or detachable "magazine", sometimes referred to as a "clip" (which denotes a magazine reloading device used in certain rifles, or a retainer for flangeless bullets used in certain revolvers). The world's first self-loading firearm is the Maxim gun, developed by British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884, capable of firing 600 rounds per minute but requires a team of men to maintain and is not portable by one man. The Maxim gun has been used in a vast number of conflicts.