McCarty's Peculiar Revolver

William McCarty patented this turret revolver design in 1909 (submitted in 1908, approved in 1909), with the idea of making a high capacity revolver. His gun held 18 rounds of .22 rimfire ammunition - double the typical .22 revolver capacity. He did that by making a vertical turret system with a large ring to hold the 18 rounds, which in turn made the gun pretty bulky. I had a reader send me a copy of his patent back in 2013, and at the time I didn’t know that one had ever been actually made. Well, there was one - it’s here and also documented in Louis Winant’s book “Firearms Curiosa”. Not surprisingly, the design never made it into mass production…
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[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

> "It's gone a bit full circle..." > turret revolver ಠ_ಠ

[@Chevypotamus]

oof

[@wierdalien1]

Rock Island Auction Company dont hold back say what you really think

[@Isaac-ho8gh]

Rock Island Auction Company KZbin thinks your comment was posted three weeks ago, RIA is the future lel

[@ajhayden3307]

Isaac Raschke he made this video in advance and only patreon supporters get private links to watch his early videos before its uploaded on YT. ( i think take this with a grain of salt )

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

@lefr33man - NEVER!

[@curious5661]

A reverse Henry. A gun you can shoot on sunday and takes a week to reload.

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

Nice.

[@dELTA13579111315]

@@SonsOfLorgar they should make a betamag for it at least

[@ScottKenny1978]

@@SonsOfLorgar probably would have been done after a couple trips to the range with those prototypes. I would have added a thumb stud to help push the top cover.

[@johnnycovenant2286]

Nah I'd say that's the American 180 especially if you have trouble with over a hundred .22s

[@aidanflanigan9532]

Rock Island Auction Company why hello there 👋

[@NebulousSpacePotato]

"guys cmon don't reinvent the wheel." "But what if we made the wheel a GUN?"

[@antoniobeltranthesumosnipe8634]

This is Remnant. EVERYTHING is also a gun.

[@jakublulek3261]

Hey, revolvers are sometimes called wheel guns, right?

[@PenumbranWolf]

"Jacobs!"

[@Bakie.o]

🇺🇸

[@ieuanhunt552]

Looking at this gun it's not surprising that clock makers and gunsmiths had a lot of overlap back in the day.

[@xmm-cf5eg]

You're looking at this and I'm just thinking about the G-11 rifle internal's.

[@mathildadeer]

keith moore sword smiths use lots of spring steal too but they lack the experience with tiny moving parts

[@passonthestar3689]

@keith moore A little more than that. Both know how to get small moving parts working properly

[@hutchtv7640]

Isn't it ironic!? Don't ya think??😂

[@illwayz313]

It really just goes full circle.

[@korblborp]

looking back on this now, it kind of reminds me of the Zip22. it certainly has the "how the heck am i supposed to hold this thing" aspect to it!

[@CptJistuce]

It was truly ahead of its time.

[@AlexR2648]

'Did he fire eighteen shots or only seventeen?' Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I kind of lost track myself. But being that this is a McCarty Turret Revolver, the most unwieldy handgun in the world, and would wound your head somewhat, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, punk?

[@goose4781]

Genius

[@TheSchmed]

A lot Dirtier Harry

[@TheSchmed]

“Callahan, turn in your badge and your 20 pound handgun !”

[@richpurslow3283]

class

[@jeffreystroman2811]

AlexR2648 ok, you made me laugh out loud with that comment, much obliged

[@thegoldencaulk2742]

That's the stupidest looking revolver I think I've ever seen. I'll take 2.

[@austinbartose6527]

Lol

[@tetsuoswrath]

Who the hell needs 36 rounds of .22LR?!? Will someone please think of the children?!? X{D

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

I'll take 6: 2 for each hand, 1 for each foot

[@tonttu1233]

@@jurgensebastiancortescueva8147 Your comment makes me rage. Why do you think your opinion is relevant in any way? Let those guys joke around and move on.

[@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat]

:0

[@JohanKylander]

Looks like a musical instrument.

[@coreyg7575]

Don't put your mouth up to it

[@gcart7675]

it is it plays the song of freedom

@@gcart7675 freedom for the spirit from the body

[@jeramysteve3394]

I hear it frees the soul.

[@erikm12]

It only plays doots of death

[@matthewpalmer7184]

It's utterly awkward, overly complex, effectively obsolete when it was designed, and useless in the modern era I want it

[@Meowystery]

Matthew Palmer It kind of looks steampunky in a way

[@matthewpalmer7184]

Aye, it really does. Slap some brass gears on it!

[@ScottKenny1978]

@@matthewpalmer7184 steampunk is about having *working* gears and other overcomplicated mechanisms, sir!

[@Bialy_1]

@@ScottKenny1978 so it is not a steampunk as it is not complicated at all...

[@Bearthedancingman]

🤣👍👍👍👍

[@TreeWizard648]

This looks like something that should have been invented 40 or 50 years before it was actually made. It would fit right in with all of the weird guns of the 1850s or 1860s.

[@jasondoe2596]

TreeWizard648, my thoughts exactly!

[@mysss29]

I may have missed the patent date earlier in the video, because at the end I sat here dumbfounded thinking it was 60 years too late. In my head I was saying, "no, of course it'd be .22. short...."

[@IxodesPersulcatus]

Wheeliam McCarty's patented CartWheel revolver. This is what happens when you put a coffee mug on your blueprints.

[@Chevypotamus]

High capacity assault revolver. You know what to do.

[@raffica3579]

Cat BAN

[@blackbaron9544]

I'll only buy it if it has a tactical rail to mount my under barrel assualt chainsaw.

[@hansheden]

Mud test?

[@firepower7017]

Lee Enfield You can't Ban it yet, you gotta nerf it. Lose 10% capacity for 5% firing speed it also has additional recoil and projectile speed is increased by 20%

[@shawnr771]

what about the bayonet lug??

[@AWESOME2715]

Finally, its the high-capacity Assault revolver everyone's been talking about!

[@misteryman5109]

It's so heavy that it has a AR style carry handle!

[@sniperblast]

As silly as this gun is, we have to admire the maker for coming up with a new idea and building it. The only way to find out if an idea is practical is to build it.

[@Elwould23]

Simple, elegant and clumsy design.

[@khamuldergroe5662]

one of those guys Nice profile pic. the dude abides

[@spudgunn8695]

one of those guys elegant AND clumsy? Bit of an oxymoronic statement there, mate!

[@baron8107]

one of those guys It'd be pretty cheap to reproduce today.

[@aserta]

But isn't that what we love the most ? :)

[@Elwould23]

Luke, that's, just...like, your, opinion Man. Someone needs a hug.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Would it not have worked better on a rifle? Got to admire these innovative thinkers, even if their ideas are occasionally ridiculous.

[@maxwell120L55]

They kinda did, the Porter turret rifle is a good example

[@kickazz9473]

This was my thought also. It reminded me of the chain revolver. Another design that would be terrific on a rifle!

[@victorselve8349]

The difference between a genius inventor and a crackpot is that one had enough luck to end up on something that stood the test of time.

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

@@kickazz9473 if you're thinking of the Guycot chain gun, there were absolutely rifle versions, they held 100 shots! If you meant the actual revolver with the more traditional chain, there was also rifle that's kinda similar to that, though the name currently escapes me. Edit: I was thinking of the Treeby Chain Gun

[@kickazz9473]

@@Ezekiel_Allium wow those are cool I had never seen/heard of either of those! Thanks

[@myramadd6651]

I dunno. It's impractical. It's Awkward. It's out of my price range... I LOVE IT!

[@anrew4425]

Myra Madd its a simple design, a machinist could probably fabricate it

[@gcart7675]

Avitus Nonius Midwestern Legion look up ecco machine he does way better than this to be honest

[@SeraphinaPZ]

"Early attempt at a high capacity revolver", the key word being attempt. That thing has great ergonomics.

[@VladLogimane]

Gota love prototypes. Always so interesting.

[@rifles_up2263]

This thing was loaded at the factory and had to be sent back to be re-loaded😂

[@icebluscorpion]

Apple style XD

[@kjamison5951]

Brandon roberts Walmart had a reload service where you got it back in a week but this was reduced to a one-hour service…

[@montyfatcat8871]

NATO underwater pistol anyone?

[@serge00storms]

Assault Frisbee

[@dawnslayer]

Underrated. Fucking. Comment

[@RokuroCarisu]

18 shots missed - lethal throw.

[@WitchyWagonReal]

This seems like it would be a really cool CAD and/or 3D printer project to recreate... seems simple enough, and would probably work okay if your math and machining is good. Nobody is gonna come after you for the patent, so... I hope it is somebody's weekend project 😊

[@VonRammsteyn]

Seems easyer to overcome drug adiction than to reload and fire this thing...

[@bobthebuilder1360]

Let's find out

[@Wavemaninawe]

Looks more like a compelling argument to why drugs dont belong in engineering.

[@johncox2865]

No way.

[@helpabrothawithasubisaiah5316]

@@Wavemaninawe drugs definitely belong in engineering, Steve Jobs got all his ideals from LSD for example.. And Trump got his ideals from crack cocaine, he was able to do really well in the debates by being insanely cracked out.

[@CptJistuce]

@@helpabrothawithasubisaiah5316 Sorry, we said engineering. Jobs was in marketing.

[@MrDsturman]

I’m not even into firearms but I love this channel, it’s so interesting and extremely well informed, I love the historical context as well as all the mechanical breakdowns!

[@criffermaclennan]

Can't imagine why it never caught on 😂😂

[@firepower7017]

Christopher MacLennan Can't imagine why the holy handgrenade caught on

[@idiola]

Why is Ian the most interesting guy in existence. Seriously. I love these videos 75% because of Ian, 25% because of these cool ass guns.

[@dcurry7287]

It can be the wildest, weirdest, most obscure firearm in the world and Ian has a years-old blog post and dry pun for it.

[@idiola]

@@dcurry7287 we forever love gun jesus

[@petemasta99]

it looks like a brake disk lol

[@gcart7675]

it is it stops whoever you need to shoot with it

[@eyesofstatic9641]

@@gcart7675 nice

[@tz8785]

Wouldn't the reloading door have to be inside the ring to actually function? At least it should with any current rimmed, tapered or bottlenecked cartridge, it might work with one of those reverse tapered patent circumvention oddities or maybe with an entirely straight one.

[@steamboatmodel]

One inside and one outside.

[@noobulon4334]

Poke the old cartridge through the trigger... (doughnut?) With a rod and load in reverse?

[@JayRussellDuramax]

Reloading Instructions: 1. Throw at nearest enemy. 2. Grab a new gun. 3. Repeat until gun supply is depleted.

[@jays.6843]

Ah yes, Tediore gun insurance.

[@xXHurdyGurdyManXx]

Haha nice​@@jays.6843

[@vikingbraid7515]

“It’s gone full circle” Lol, good one

[@peterhopkins4748]

I love these weird and wonderful and impractical designs of this period. Nobody seemed to know quite what was the right or wrong way to design a gun and they were all trying to avoid infringing each others patents. Keep up the good work, Ian.

[@frenchfry1659]

Hey Ian, keep it up whether it’s on KZbin or anything else, just keep up the awesome work

[@prjndigo]

Wrap music wire around the rim inside and make the hammer operate off the ring and you'd have a rip-roarin-rapid-rotary-revolver!

[@cplmackk1]

That is by far one of the most unique pistols ive ever seen. Not at all practical but, cool non the less.

[@undeadzerg8758]

I love seeing these weird early guns. It's interesting seeing all these outlandish designs people came up with before a handful of designs dominated the market.

[@radracer2033]

Hmm, I was expecting it to be the same sort of size as one of those Chicago pocket pistols

[@sladjan0705]

Mike Stroz Same. Turns out it’s massive

[@MrCh0o]

But then what would it shoot? Kolibri rounds?

[@GnuReligion]

Now, this one is a forgotten weapon. Really like its simplicity though.

[@eze417]

Some of these guns you demonstrate are just plain bizarre, but they're interesting. I've been designing a pistol (and a carbine too) with a lot of outside-the-box features that I thought were totally original, only to learn that someone else had the same idea many years earlier.

[@realitymatters8720]

I love the thinking in this mecanism... nice !

[@Rickenbacker69]

Really beautiful construction of a really stupid idea :).

[@Chester200100]

Bullets pointing at you in a magazine is a stupid idea, but its far more dangerous with black powder guns where chainfire is a more common problem.

[@benn454]

Platfus Rodzer You can easily survive getting your fingers blown off. Taking a few rounds to the face might be a bit harder.

[@michaelfurgessons2896]

benn454 There are reasons we need barrels even small ones and that is to help build up the pressure and guide the projectile.The rounds in the other chambers if they explode (extremely unlikely,maybe even impossible) they are not gonna act like bullets but more like an extremely wimpy hand grenade.So in the end even if it fails the result wont be too different from a mosern pistol failing.

[@personalaccount186]

r/ATBGE

[@mordecaieagle4240]

Plausible risk with this type of guns is hang fire.

[@perochialjoe]

When I saw that thumbnail I was expecting some kind of palm pistol. Then the video started and holy shit that thing is gigantic.

[@flare9757]

This works in a similar way to one of my hypothetical twin 5” gun designs. 6 slot drum per gun, each drum rotating towards the center of the turret. As the drums are the breaches, they don’t work like a Gatling gun, as this drum locks in place behind the barrel to fire. Once the shell has been fired, it rotates to the upper center area center position, then the case is ejected out the front of the gun. In the bottom center, the drum slot is reloaded. The turret does not fire both barrels at the same time, but one at a time. So when the left gun fires, it’s recoil resets the right gun, and the right guns recoil arms the left gun. This is primarily to reduce the built up heat in the guns while increasing the fire rate when compared to a modern 5” gun turret.

[@skullfracture2]

“Full-circle” Oh Ian, you slay us!

[@yeyito3676]

2:02 Fires AROUND!!!! hahahahaha

[@jordanwong7902]

it looks like a pistol version of that assault rifle from Deus Ex

[@batmangovno]

Which one?

[@lankyGigantic]

The best part about this channel are just the super weird guns, like this, the poacher guns and the craft made guns.

[@SuperTrunkspace]

Really cool to see how much of that gun is incorporated into a single casting. Production costs would probably be pretty low as a result.

[@Gunneramma]

I saw the thumbnail and thought it was one of those car wheels to play Mario cart wii

[@roteba1]

Sad to see such innovation to so little effect.

[@brostelio]

Best narrator I've ever come across! I Love his work.

[@juuuniper1]

“this has gone a bit full circle” i’m inclined to agree

[@GunFunZS]

That cylinder must be very prone to friction. Also cross threading on the cover plate. An interrupted thread or snap catch would have made more sense.

[@matthewbivens1299]

GunFun ZS same thought

[@alexanderf8451]

What a clever bit of engineering and geometry. Shame about everything else.

[@brittongolfwang]

thank you for your service

[@scj8863]

I was listening to this while I was driving. When he said there was a wheel of cylinders, I was amazed and was trying to figure out how that could work. Went back to the video when I got home and was disappointed

[@skuzzyj]

That thing is neat. Kinda weird, kinda dumb, but... very interesting.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

IF you wanted to make something better out of a design like this would it be a good idea to have a thumbhole where the trigger is now and have a grip with trigger on the outside of the cylinder?

[@Goonygoon84]

With the trigger outside the cylinder you then have the issue of needing to go around the cylinder with a trigger bar. Not a bad idea, but it would take some extra tinkering.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

Nawww man, you go full on "anachronism stew" and use electrically primed ammo like the Remington EtronX.

[@mysss29]

anachronism stew XD

[@daleparker4207]

That was really great. I've never seen one of these. Thank you

[@beez1717]

It's so darn simple and I'm surprised it wasn't thought of earlier!

[@Evirthewarrior]

This is where the Rhino got its design?

[@mysss29]

the resemblance is...uncanny

[@737Garrus]

With the fully internal hammer, yes. I love the "carry handle" above the barrel tho'.

[@ozdavemcgee2079]

A bit steampunkish lol

[@2hotnips]

A lot of their thumbnails look like clickbait because of how insane some of the guns look, but that's just actually how they look.

[@TheHylianJuggalo]

You're one of the few channels whose thumbnails cannot be clickbait, and I am compelled the click on them whenever I see these psychotic looking weapons

[@swamprat69er]

not very practical after firing all 18 shots

[@MrAlumni72]

Unless a turn-of-the-century game of frisbee broke out.

[@ErwinPommel]

If you fire 18 shots at someone and they keep coming, you deserve what happens next.

[@mohammad_joo]

Stop the battle for 2 hours to reload your gun 😂

[@nodo7575]

Or before.

[@flatsurfaces1913]

Is this not an AOW as it just doesn't look like a gun? At all. Also if it chain fires, you lose the whole hand.

[@MikeDCWeld]

The Cynical Boy nope. The barrel and trigger are easily distinguishable and even the most sheltered would likely identify it as a gun.

[@madrenwillims4391]

0:28 made me die. No joke I crawled off my bed from laughter at “full circle” I shouldn’t have

[@teamcouplespokemon598]

Your a genius brother. You need 1 million followers. Anyone could pitch you any gun and you could tell them every detail about it

[@DerDoctor69]

Last time i was this early Ian wore a red shirt

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Hmm, looks like something that California politicians would say needs to be implemented on all firearms. You know, disassembly required to reload. LOL!

[@FloorManiac]

By far, this is the coolest gun I’ve seen you present on this show. So cool. Thanks!

[@dpie7091]

I can see this in a steampunk alternate reality as a standard for all pistols

[@mobspeak]

I love all the weird guns you find.

[@petersmythe6462]

Remember, going to the store and buying a secondary is faster than reloading.

[@abhishekgourav6144]

People did make some really weird guns back in the days..i love it

[@squirrelonmapletree]

Say, 100 years from now or so, this video might be a really valuable historical record I think.

[@nassirahmad4873]

I love these weird little curios of firearms history.

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

The grip: index finger through that large oval above the barrel (see that chamfer there to make it comfy?) and probably middle or ring finger through the trigger guard on the trigger. The pinky goes through the little ring at the bottom.

[@7come11two]

A beautifully simple mechanism.

[@xanimosityxgaming2664]

Honesly this looks like an enlarged palm revolver. Pinky goes in the loop at the bottom, ring finger pulls trigger, pointer finger goes towards the smooth groove between sights and barrel.

[@bellakaldera3305]

So cool! It needs a larger caliber, a detachable shoulder stock and a longer barrel though!

[@DavidBrown-cp2vm]

McCarty's Peculiar sounds like an Irish beer !! Firearms, aviation and automobiles, to name a few categories, have such splendid arrays of ingenious "also rans". I love these just as much as the well-known winners, a lot of creative thought went into all of them. Love your videos. P.S. Some tank designs are fascinatingly bad also.

[@danield2685]

Thinking outside the box. Gotta love it

[@jacobkeltz3584]

It's a really cool idea from the lawless time before everyone just did magazines

[@tiberiussheets2993]

He said it's gone... full circle!!!

[@hellishgrin4604]

I have to say, it's probably one of my favorite firing mechanisms now.

[@IndianaJoe3]

I think there's another reason for the angled chambers. If they were straight, they wouldn't line up properly with the barrel since it's offset from the center of the cylinder.

[@dcraft1234]

Man, you're not afraid to take apart anything!

[@iJacker]

Just an observation: maybe you should put your audio through equalizer/filter or use a better mic? It sounds like the mid to lower end needs to be filtered and tweaked. It’d also be awesome to hear all the clicks and snaps of the firearm as you work with it. It’s a great ASMR

[@duanekc]

And now we know what Billy the Kid did for a living after escaping Pat Garrett...

[@edwhitson9873]

I like it, alot of potential with this design

[@BarondePencier]

William McCarty's Peculiar Revolver sounds like the best firearms-themed Jojo spinoff we'll never get.

[@jacobstaten2366]

Maybe if they had a quicker way to ditch the empty cylinder for a full one and put a handle on it. It would probably be good for recoil then.

[@galaga8779]

mom can I have a chicago palm pistol? we have a chicago palm pistol at home. the chicago palm pistol at home:

[@illwayz313]

I like that the round revolver went full circle!

[@00Monkeyz]

You know that looks like something that would be fun just to machine out of a block and play with to see if you could make it at all practical.

[@iberiksoderblom]

They looked at it and thought "It's gonna work...".

[@CompComp]

Do these auction houses ever let you take these awesome guns to the range? Also I'm glad to see you're still on YT I love your videos keep up the good work.

[@ForgottenWeapons]

I shoot a selection of guns at the James Julia auction house, but it's not practical at Rock Island for several reasons.

[@dzonijohnny5718]

This thing is ridiculous and awesome in the same time...

[@TomasJoaquinPoblete]

The cylinder looks like a vented brake disc