!!!!!SOLD!!!!! Critchlow 1/12 Scale Belgian Reffye Metrailleuse 50 Barrel Battery Gun On Wheeled Carriage !!!!!SOLD!!!!!

!!!!!SOLD!!!!!  This is a 1/12 scale French Reffye Metrailleuse 50 barrel battery gun made by a Mr. Critchlow.  These were made as road, bridge or very narrow area defense weapons & fired all 50 barrels at once.

From Popular Mechanics:

“The mitrailleuse was one of the early types of mechanical machine gun, along with the Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, and others. “Mitrailleuse” is actually a general name for a volley gun–one with many barrels in a cluster, which are fired sequentially. The two most common types were the Montigny (a Belgian design fired by a lever) and the Reffye (a French design fired by crank).

The Reffye was a top-secret weapon used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War, which was expected to be a huge game-changer. However, there was little experience worldwide in how best to use a weapon like this, and the French commanders chose to use them like artillery, firing at long range where they were inaccurate and underpowered. In this role, they were utterly outclassed by the Prussian Krupp artillery, leading to a general European disdain for the effectiveness of machine guns that would last until the First World War.”

The Metrailleuse pre-dated the Gatling gun by about 10 years.

This miniature has a 3 7/8″  brass barrel group not counting the breech plug & handle & has 50 barrels.  The Overall length including the carriage is 13 1/2″.  Wheel diameter is 6 1/2″  Functional elevation screw with a four spoke handle.  The breech unscrews to load the cartridges.  The barrel, breech plug, breech crank handle &  trunion keys are brass.  The trunion key chains are steel in the white.  The remaining steel metal hardware is painted black as in hub reinforcements, rims, trail end, handles, & axle braces.  The wood trail, axle, & spoked wheels are painted a cream/tan color.  A very detailed model of a very unusual early multi-shot firearm and a step towards to true machine guns.  Excellent condition except one of the trunion cap  bosses that the keyways go in is broken off.  Priced accordingly.  Stock # CK-342.  !!!!!SOLD!!!!!