Though often referred to as the Nock Gun or Nock Volley Gun, these distinctive multi-barrel firearms were actually designed by James Wilson in 1779. Henry Nock has received most of the credit as he was contracted to manufacture the guns and thus his name is the one marked on the guns. 606 of these fearsome guns were reported to have been purchased by the Royal Navy (500 in 1780 and 106 in 1788). The latter are said to have had reinforced cocks. The first three guns made were rifled, but the rest were smoothbore as that made the laborious process of loading seven barrels quicker but by no means quick. They were meant to be fired at enemy boarding parties from up in a ship's rigging. At such distances, one of these guns would still hit a small area and do far more damage than a single shot from a musket, and a traditional blunderbuss would have had an immense spread at that range. The Volley Guns were pulled from service in 1804 or 1805 due to safety concerns relating to their excessive recoil that reportedly injured sailors, including breaking shoulders, and risks of alighting the rigging and sails. Their menacing look has earned them roles in movie and television history including scenes from The Alamo, Sharpe, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Turn: Washington's Spies, and more. Nock also designed a self-priming pepperbox carbine that has a similar appearance but fired one shot at a time and had manually rotated barrels. This example is the smoothbore variant and has six barrels fitted around a central barrel. The barrels have Tower proofs, and the right barrel has "H. NOCK" at the breech. The concave rib between the upper two barrels has a blade front sight, and the standing breech is grooved to act as a rear sight. The "Queen Anne" style lock is marked with "TOWER" and the Georgian cipher on the tail and has "6" or "9" and "HN" inside. The replacement brass trigger guard has scroll engraving. The side plate and buttplate are correct and are also brass.

Good considering age and use. Overall with light gray patina and moderate pitting, detached central ramrod ferrule, absent rear ramrod ferrule, the noted replacement trigger guard, applied varnished stock with cracked wrist, and general moderate wear. The metal surfaces all show cleaning, no doubt for presentation purposes. Mechanically fine. These guns are rarely available and are often found, and are widely accepted much like on Colt Walker revolvers, with replacement parts when they are. This is easily one of the most distinctive and impressive flintlock firearms and would be an excellent addition to a collection of antique British martial arms, Napoleonic Wars arms, or Royal Navy artifacts.