anyone ever seen a crowsfoot gun?

[jon1996]

hello,
i was doing my normal saturday pawnshop rounds and was looking in a pistol case and seen a very wierd pistol, i asked what it was and the owner said it was called a crows foot, it had three barrels the middle one was straight, the one on the right was angled to the right a little bit, and the one on the left was angled a little to the left, it had a overall length of about 8 inches, and it was a break down, anyone know much about these and are they worth anything, he said it was original and was very old, but it was in good shape, if it is worth anything i will go and make me a offer on it,
later,
jon

[El Tejon]

POS pistols (often called bicycle guns [used for dogs]--bicycling was very popular c. 1900) from Europe were all the rage when all this was orchard and nickels were bees. Likely one of these.

No idea on price. Quite a conversation piece though.:)

[AJ Dual]

I've seen them, mostly in books, once in person. I've heard them refered to as "ducksfoot pistols".

IIRC they were an item from the sailing ship era, for getting a wide dispersion of shot during hand-to-hand action against prirates or an enemy navy. It was also purported to be an anti-mutiny item, to keep the dissatisfied swabbies from saying. "Arrgh! Jess rush the capn' all at once, arr... He can't get us all with that musket!" I would wager that loaded with shot, the three spread barrels were quite a deterrent.

The one I saw was a flintlock, and was largely all-brass construction. I don't remember much else as I was a kid on family vacation, and saw it at some east coast maritime museum.

Odds are it's a repro, so unless it's a fair price for the reproduction to begin with, I wouldn't buy it without some serious research into proofmarks etc.

Here's a pic of a kit one:

http://thunder-ridge-muzzleloading.com/images/duckfoot_kit.JPG

Here's a historical one with four barrels:

http://website.lineone.net/~da.cushman/duckfoot.jpg

[461]

I always heard them referred to as "Duckfoot" pistols. I can see it now going up against three attackers. "Okay, you stand here, you there, and hey you over there could you step two paces to the right? Wouldn't work well at the range either, you'd keep hitting the targets of the folks on either side. :D

Interesting though and would be a good conversation piece.

[joab]

I've heard of Duckfoot pistols sometimes called crowdpleasures. The only ones I've seen or heard of were flint or percussion.
Repos go for about $50
Does it look like any of thesehttp://website.lineone.net/~da.cushman/ducksfoot.html

[4v50 Gary]

Yep, they were made to repel boarders but were more of a personal weapon than a naval one. Guess you have three times to miss. I wonder if one were to shoot it gangsta style? :)

[Josey]

www.dixiegunworks.com sells a replica.

[Third_Rail]

http://website.lineone.net/~da.cushman/duckfoot3.jpg

Holy....!

[Jim Keenan]

I think that the ducksfoot pistols were more to intimidate and maybe provide the user with courage than to actually hit attackers. 461 sees the problem ("you stand there...") very well.

Except that they are both handguns, there is no connection between ducksfoot multiple barrel pistols and the much later "velo-dog" revolvers that were carried by bicyclists in late 19th century Europe.

Jim

[joab]

Dog Gunhttp://img5.photobucket.com/albums/v14/bugman/unservised_list_01_010.jpg

[Jim March]

http://website.lineone.net/~da.cushman/duckfoot2.jpg

Here we see where Benchmade got the idea for the pocket clip :).

The one Third_Rail posted is just completely over-the-top gonzo :D. Tell me THAT wasn't packed by a pirate captain. One that was both a) female and b) permanently PMSing :eek:.