POTD: Four Barreled Mouthful – Martin-Marres-Braendlin Mitrailleuse Pistol
Sam.S 10.19.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The Martin-Marres-Braendlin Mitrailleuse pistol was an unusual 4-barreled handgun designed by Abraham Martin and produced from 1880-1888 by Braendlin Armoury of Birmingham. Inspired by the Lancaster pistol, it fired .476 Enfield rounds from each barrel via separate firing pins linked to a single action trigger. However, recoil could trigger multiple pins, making it unpredictable and potentially hazardous. Despite initial British officer interest, only a few hundred were made before losing popularity to reliable Webleys and Lancasters. Its lack of safety features and low production doomed it to obscurity.
“Only several hundred of these pistols were manufactured between 1880 and 1888. They are somewhat similar to the more well known Lancaster pistols that were popular with British officers and tiger hunters. The Mitrailleuse (French for grapeshot) were never very popular despite initial interest because the system could accidentally fire a second shot due to the force of the recoil against the firing pins. This example has a blade front sight, fluted four barrel group, extractor, break action with lever above the grip, and is marked “THE BRAENDLIN-ARMOURY/Co LIMD BIRMINGHAM” on the right side of the action and has a “cross-pennant/B/6” stamp on the left side and small Birmingham proofmarks on the barrel group at the breech. “PATENT” is visible on the upper left of the action.”
Lot 3257: Martin-Marres-Braendlin Mitrailleuse Four Barrel Pistol – Scarce Braendlin-Armoury Co. Ltd. Martin-Marres-Braendlin Mitrailleuse Four Barrel Pistol. (n.d.-ai). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/78/3257/martin-marres-braendlin-mitrailleuse-four-barrel-pistol.
