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more Henri Pieper guns

Henri Pieper (left) and Nicolas Pieper (right)

"Henri Pieper was born and raised in modest German home in Soest (Westphalia) Germany on Oct 30, 1840. He received his technical training in Soest and then in Warstein. Then emigrated to Belgium at the end of 1859. Moving around from Herstal and a short period in the wool industry of Verviers, he finally settled in Liege after marriage. He established his firearm manufacturing business “Anciens Etablissements Pieper” in Liege in 1866. The rapid growth and success of his business was partly due to an excellent decision he made early on in the purchase of a barrel factory in Nessonvaux. Some of Remington’s finest double shotguns of the time have the maker’s mark of ‘HP’ on them from this factory. It didn’t take long for him to become famous for quality and moderate prices.

In 1870 his 6,000 square meter workshop on the street of Bayard and along with his barrel factory in Nessonvaux in the valley of Vesdre was primarily manufacturing shotguns for export.

In 1887, Henri Pieper joined the “Manufacturers of Weapons” association of Liege. Along with the factories Jules Ancion, Dumoulin brothers, Joseph Janssen, Pirlot-Frésart, Draws up-Laloux & Co, Albert Simonis and the brothers Emile and Leon Nagant with an aim of obtaining large government and military contracts.
The following year, he took part in the Belgian army tests to replace the outdated Comblain rifles with a modern repeating rifle. He submited two Mannlicher style rifles. One with a rectilinear action and another with a rotary Schulhof action. Both lost to Mauser which was adopted as the model 1889.
He was then contracted to help with the creation of the Belgian National Factory which would manufacture the model 1889 where he remained as a major shareholder and administrator.
After this, he assisted in the development of a “gas seal revolver”. His design lost the competition for the new Russian revolver contract to the Nagant brothers’ design. But model 1893 revolver was very popular in Mexico along with a revolving rifle of the same type. Very few of these remain and command a high price. Most found by today’s collectors are worn and heavily used.
About 1897, the Pieper workshops launched into the manufacture of bicycles and cars.

Nicolas Pieper was born in Liege on October 31, 1870. The second son of Henri Pieper and Catherine Elisabeth Leroy. At the early age of 13 he was training with his father. Before his fathers premature death at the age of 57, he took the helm of the firearms factory in Liege while his brother Edouard Herman took over the barrel factory in Nessonvaux.

In a few short years, the over diversification of the company put him in bankruptcy. Nicolas, with the help of his brother-in-law, Auguste Lambrecht, rebuilt the business, and named it “Factory of automatic weapons Nicolas Pieper”." http://www.forgottenweapons.com/biography-henri-nicolas-pieper/

http://www.icollector.com/Henri-Pieper-Belgian-7-Chamber-Volley-Gun_i19367222

"Popular among market hunters of the late 19th century, volley guns (also known as goose guns) used simultaneously-fired barrels to combine the swarm effect of a shotgun with the greater range of a rifle. Measuring 1 1/4 inches in diameter, the barrel cluster is fitted with a dovetailed bead front sight and a two leaf rear sight, with "H. PIEPER LIEGE" on the rib and the Liege "E/LG/star" proof on the left. Casehardened frame with light border engraving, floral designs on the screws, and a rolling block action with a removable "moon clip" style cartridge carrier (one included) and a one-piece rimfire striker. Checkered pistol grip stock, with a sling eye on the forearm, casehardened engraved grip cap, silver inscription panel on the underside bearing the Japanese numerals for "30" (significance unknown), and a smooth steel buttplate.
SN 256"

it seems the Pieper gun was made as a seven shooter in 22 lr and in 32 long RF
http://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-1314-pieper-seven-shot-rolling-block-volley-gun-40717/

"PIEPER SEVEN-SHOT ROLLING BLOCK VOLLEY GUN. SN 459. Cal. 32 RF. 25-1/2″ Round seven shot barrel is engraved “M. Pieper Liege” on wide flat matted integral rib. One standing, one folding leaf rear sight, and silver bead front, are dovetailed through rib. Left side of bbl is stamped with Belgian black powder proofs. SN is on bottom of bbl. Large, case hardened rolling block action has scrolled border engraving. Sides of breech block, locking lever and hammer are polished bright. Left side of breech block and action are proofed. Centrally hung hammer has checkered spur, and main-spring is extremely strong, in order to fire all seven bbls at once. A zinc or steel washer cut to accept cartridges is necessary to load and fire this rifle. A zinc washer is present."
http://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-1314-pieper-seven-shot-rolling-block-volley-gun-40717/

not all of this are best grade colour case hardened, here is a more basic version only blued in 32 RF

http://www.gundigest.com/gun-collecting-firearm-collecting/gundigest-9-24-09-pieper

"Naval warfare wasn’t what Henri Pieper had in mind when he built his volley gun. More likely he intended it as a market gun. Back before 1918, there were no bag limits on waterfowl, and many hunters made their living by shooting as many ducks as they could in a single day and taking them down to the local meat market to sell. Most market hunters used plain old everyday shotguns, but hardcore market hunters used punt guns or volley guns.

A punt gun, of course, was an enormous smoothbore with a caliber frequently larger, sometimes much larger, than one inch. It was loaded with as much as a half-pound of shot and lashed to the gunwale of a punt, a small skiff-like boat. You’d paddle or pole the punt gun toward the birds, point the front of the boat at them, then — Ka-blooey! Afterward, you’d pick up the dead birds with a long-handled net and bundle them off to market. (The LaPorte County Museum also has two punt guns in its collection.)
The Pieper Volley Gun must have served the same purpose. It has seven rifled .32-caliber barrels, all of which fire at once. There’s a single pair of sights on top of its barrel cluster, which meant you couldn’t do much precision shooting with it. When you saw a bunch of geese or ducks on the water, you simply aimed at the unlucky one in the middle and squeezed ‘er off. You were bound to bag two or three birds at the least.

All of this sounds terribly shabby to us today, but the market hunter of the past never claimed to be a sportsman. He was a meat hunter, pure and simple, and if a punt gun or volley gun helped him put a roof over his head and bread on the table, he’d use one if he could afford it. But market hunters nearly wiped out several species of waterfowl, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 put an end to the practice forever.

In a rare print reference, the Pieper Volley Gun was advertised in the 1888 – 1889 Great Western Gun Works Catalog as “Pieper’s 7-Shot Mitrailleuse,” “mitrailleuse” being an old French word for a multi-barreled firearm. It was said to be “an accurate gun for 125 to 150 yard shooting” and “an excellent gun for wild geese and other wild game.” The catalog boasted that the Pieper gun, which was available in .22 or .32 rimfire, “will throw bullets farther than any other shot gun will throw buck shot, and persons who only want a gun for geese, crane, turkey, etc., cannot get anything that will do the work as well.”

Further, the Pieper Mitrailleuse was said to have a spread of three feet at 125 yards, so it was admirably comprehensive. The gun retailed for an astounding $70, whereas you could order a Winchester Model 1886 Express Rifle in .50-95 for “only” $20.25. That makes the Pieper Volley Gun one of the most expensive guns of its day."

http://qsy-complains-a-lot.tumblr.com/post/124742234514/pieper-volley-rifle-or-goose-gun-7-rifled

here is a real 32 RF five barrel gun

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-1311-pieper-type-rolling-block-five-shot-volley-gun-35630/
"PIEPER TYPE ROLLING BLOCK FIVE SHOT VOLLEY GUN. SN NSN. Cal. 32 ga. 25-1/2″ Round bbl has slightly raised matted top w/ standing rear sight and uncut folding leaf rear sight dovetailed and soldered in place. Post front sight is mounted the same way. Left rear of bbl has Belgian proofs. Large case hardened rolling block action is nicely filed, and has border engraving. "

http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/gooserifle.html

thinking most of this guns were sold into the united states because since the prohibition of shotguns over 10 ga for hunting waterfowl in the 1880s there was a special demand. you can do two things with a 8 or 4 ga.
you can use it as poor mans punt gun firing into a flock or you can use it as a long range shotgun loading larger size pellets with a high powder load what makes it possible to reach birds on longer distance and this was the point for the volley gun.
if we see at the serial numbers it seems they are in one group so at least 459 guns were made.

this one is for sale in argentina with the SN 8

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Norwegian hunter misses moose, shoots man on toilet
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