Volley gun
Two notable artillery-sized volley guns were developed in the mid-19th century, although neither was particularly successful in practice. Developed in the 1860s and based on an 1850s design by a captain Fafschamps, the French mitrailleuse is an example of a multi-barreled volley gun that could fire all of its barrels simultaneously or sequentially over a short period of time. Also developed in the 1860s, General Origen Vandenburgh of the New York State Militia designed a weapon that had eighty five parallel .50 caliber rifle barrels. After failing to sell the weapon to the United Kingdom, he reportedly sold a small number to the Confederate States of America, although there is no record that they were actually used. One Vandenburgh gun was located at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and another reportedly at Salisbury, NC.
Henry Nock
James Wilson came to Nock in 1779 to make the prototypes for his volley gun design. Nock won the subsequent competitive bid for the production of the gun. The weapon is consequently commonly referred to as the Nock gun. Nock also produced some volley guns and volley pistols for the civilian market but in very small numbers. This included a set of these weapons for the Royal Household which is still in the Queen's collection today. This set is not standard production. It has, for instance, silver mounts by Mark Bock, a London silversmith.