Eight-barreled shotgun Colt Defender
Colt Defender ("Defender") - American-made 8-barreled shotgun, which was designed to arm law enforcement and army units. The design of this shotgun was a further development of the 4-barrel model Liberator (Liberator). In fact, it was semi-automatic weapon extremely easy to operate and quite reliable. For a number of reasons, this shotgun was never adopted by either the army or the police; Work on this project was completely phased out in 1971.
It is worth noting that in the United States, the popularity of shotguns in the army and police formations, as well as among civilians, since the XIX century, pushed gunsmith designers to create new types of weapons built on the basis of shotguns. In the 20th century, Robert Hilberg picked up the baton in the field of creating unusual smooth-bore guns, who worked on a large number of multi-barreled small arms systems. He began designing his first multi-barreled shotgun back in the 50s of the last century, and by the year of 1960 had launched a four-barreled shotgun called the Liberator. This shotgun was created to arm the militias and partisans loyal to Washington. The calculation for creating such a weapon was quite simple: it was thought that most of the militia and partisans could not shoot straight, giving them automatic weapons was useless, while a volley from a large number of barrels, and even a shot, would strike the target even to a blind person.
At first, the designer was inclined to six- and eight-barrel samples, but then he made his final choice on the 4-x trunks. To reduce the cost and facilitate weapons, the shotgun was planned to be made partly from magnesium. The release of this four-barreled shotgun was supposed to take up the well-known weapons company "Winchester", and the cost of one "Liberator" was only 20 dollars. However, pro-American guerrillas did not appreciate this model and stubbornly continued to arm themselves with Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifles. By taking this, Hilberg offered his shotgun to the army and the American police.
Initially, the military undertook to test the new "toys" with great interest, but quickly cooled down to it (due to unreliability, a long recharge time). In the police, having estimated the firepower of the four-barreled salvo, they came to the conclusion that they did not need weapons that would turn the criminal, and at the same time the people next to him, into real stuffing. As a result, the “Liberator” remained useless shotgun.
However, the failure did not temper the ardor of Robert Hilberg, who did not even think of indulging in despair. After the failure of the "Liberator", he began to create a new multi-barreled gun, which he wanted to offer the US self-defense forces and the police. Work on the new brainchild was completed in 1967. New multi-shotgun smoothbore received the name Defender ("Defender").
After the Winchester weapons company ceased cooperation with Hilberg, losing interest in his multi-bargain solutions, he began to search for a new company that would manufacture the Defender shotgun. Interest in this development was shown by another famous American weapons company Colt, which eventually produced a small test batch of shotguns.
From a technical point of view, the new shotgun was a further development of the four-barreled “Liberator”, but already in the eight-barreled version. The Defender shotgun inherited from the Liberator a double-action firing mechanism with an openly located revolver trigger type that was modified for use in eight-barreled weapons. The sequence of shotgun shooting was provided by a special cam mechanism, which changed the position of the firing pin and provided firing from each of the eight barrels in turn.
As in the previous shotgun (Winchester Liberator), a block of 8 barrels fixedly attached to the receiver. All trunks were combined around the central axis. The space between them was used to position the tank with tear gas. The weapon was charged by breaking the block out of the 8 barrels, while slightly locking the lock to fix the two halves of the gun in the closed position. For the “perelamyvaniya” instead of the side lever lever type on the new shotgun used the upper key lever.
Shotgun "Defender" possessed two pistol grip and two trigger. The second pistol grip was brought forward, it was installed under a block of 8 barrels, where the tactical grip was usually installed. With the first firing mechanism, conventional cartridges were fired, and the second was used to disperse tear gas. In addition, the shotgun was equipped with a removable shoulder wire support, which for convenience was equipped with a rubber butt pad.
The eight-barreled monster was not so bulky, although it had a rather impressive appearance. The shotgun was designed to use 20 caliber cartridges with an 3-inch cartridge. All 8 trunks were arranged in a circle, around the central axis. The shotgun had two pistol handles and two triggers, which made it possible to fire with both hands, both left and right. In order to reduce the weight of the whole structure, the shotgun was made on the basis of aluminum with separate metal inserts, while it was covered with painted epoxy resin.
Shotgun was available in four versions:
- The first option involved the location of a tank with tear gas between the trunks. To use non-lethal weapons, it was necessary to pull the trigger that was placed on the front pistol grip.
- The second version of the shotgun was distinguished by the presence of a barrel selector that allowed you to choose which particular barrel to shoot from.
- The third option involves the installation and the selector for the choice of the barrel, and a gas cylinder with tear gas (a kind of symbiosis of the first two options).
- The fourth version of the shotgun was the most simple. He did not have any features. Drummer on it just alternately turned around a group of trunks, stopping in front of the next. There was no tear gas cylinder on it.
It was impossible to reload the weapon during the battle, only after. The designer decided that 8 cartridges for a police officer or guard would be enough to crack down on a criminal. In addition, the ability to charge barrels with different types of ammunition (bullets, canister, rubber bullet, signal, smoke, etc.) was implemented. In this case, the shooter could choose what type of ammunition he needs to use at a particular point in time.
The founder of the Defender, Robert Hilberg, believed that his eight-barreled shotgun looked so menacing that any criminal would simply drop any desire to get involved with its owner. However, the American police met the development of Hilberg with even more distrust than his four-barreled predecessor. After conducting a series of tests in the police, they flatly refused it, preferring the old and tested pump guns in the case.
The reality proved that the weapon must be reloaded both during and outside the battle, and the presence of two triggers often caused the shooter only confusion, which in the end could lead to jamming of the barrels. At the same time, security companies, like ordinary citizens, did not get into the idea of armed with eight-barreled “Defender”, therefore the production of this shotgun was minimized, so it did not start well. The recession that began in the American economy also said its word.
At the same time, the weapon was easy to operate, fairly reliable, cheap to manufacture, and also had a very high firepower. To this can be added the possibility of using various ammunition and the possibility of choice (which of them to shoot). The shotgun looked very unusual and impressive, although it did not differ in large dimensions, its menacing look had an impressive restraining effect on people. However, neither the famous manufacturer of the company, nor sufficiently good combat characteristics, had any effect. The simplicity of the maintenance of the shotgun adversely affected its clever design. In this case, the creator could not solve the problem with slow reloading shotgun. This model has never been mass produced.
Despite this fact, the Defender, like its predecessor in the face of the Liberator, was constructively one of the most interesting and innovative shotguns of its time. For a long time, not a single even later development in this area could boast with such a combination of compactness, reliability, firepower and low production costs.
It should be noted that the designer Robert Hilberg never abandoned the idea of creating multi-barreled small arms and continued to work in this direction. In 1983, he created the four-barreled COP357 Derringer pistol, which could already be found on the market. In this pistol, the same cam mechanism was used to carry out alternate firing from each barrel, which was also used on its shotguns.
Specifications shotgun Colt Defender:
Length - 451 mm.
Barrel length - 305 mm.
Weight shotgun without ammunition - 3,9 kg.
Ammunition - Magnum 20 cartridges.
Amount of cartridges - 8.
Information sources:
http://getwar.ru/amerikanskijj-osvoboditel-winchester-liberator-i-zashhitnik-colt-defender.html
http://weaponland.ru/load/drobovik_colt_defender/44-1-0-908
http://www.guns.yfa1.ru/drobovik-osvoboditel-mechta-insurgenta.html
It is worth noting that in the United States, the popularity of shotguns in the army and police formations, as well as among civilians, since the XIX century, pushed gunsmith designers to create new types of weapons built on the basis of shotguns. In the 20th century, Robert Hilberg picked up the baton in the field of creating unusual smooth-bore guns, who worked on a large number of multi-barreled small arms systems. He began designing his first multi-barreled shotgun back in the 50s of the last century, and by the year of 1960 had launched a four-barreled shotgun called the Liberator. This shotgun was created to arm the militias and partisans loyal to Washington. The calculation for creating such a weapon was quite simple: it was thought that most of the militia and partisans could not shoot straight, giving them automatic weapons was useless, while a volley from a large number of barrels, and even a shot, would strike the target even to a blind person.
At first, the designer was inclined to six- and eight-barrel samples, but then he made his final choice on the 4-x trunks. To reduce the cost and facilitate weapons, the shotgun was planned to be made partly from magnesium. The release of this four-barreled shotgun was supposed to take up the well-known weapons company "Winchester", and the cost of one "Liberator" was only 20 dollars. However, pro-American guerrillas did not appreciate this model and stubbornly continued to arm themselves with Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifles. By taking this, Hilberg offered his shotgun to the army and the American police.
Shotgun Liberator
Initially, the military undertook to test the new "toys" with great interest, but quickly cooled down to it (due to unreliability, a long recharge time). In the police, having estimated the firepower of the four-barreled salvo, they came to the conclusion that they did not need weapons that would turn the criminal, and at the same time the people next to him, into real stuffing. As a result, the “Liberator” remained useless shotgun.
However, the failure did not temper the ardor of Robert Hilberg, who did not even think of indulging in despair. After the failure of the "Liberator", he began to create a new multi-barreled gun, which he wanted to offer the US self-defense forces and the police. Work on the new brainchild was completed in 1967. New multi-shotgun smoothbore received the name Defender ("Defender").
After the Winchester weapons company ceased cooperation with Hilberg, losing interest in his multi-bargain solutions, he began to search for a new company that would manufacture the Defender shotgun. Interest in this development was shown by another famous American weapons company Colt, which eventually produced a small test batch of shotguns.
From a technical point of view, the new shotgun was a further development of the four-barreled “Liberator”, but already in the eight-barreled version. The Defender shotgun inherited from the Liberator a double-action firing mechanism with an openly located revolver trigger type that was modified for use in eight-barreled weapons. The sequence of shotgun shooting was provided by a special cam mechanism, which changed the position of the firing pin and provided firing from each of the eight barrels in turn.
As in the previous shotgun (Winchester Liberator), a block of 8 barrels fixedly attached to the receiver. All trunks were combined around the central axis. The space between them was used to position the tank with tear gas. The weapon was charged by breaking the block out of the 8 barrels, while slightly locking the lock to fix the two halves of the gun in the closed position. For the “perelamyvaniya” instead of the side lever lever type on the new shotgun used the upper key lever.
Shotgun "Defender" possessed two pistol grip and two trigger. The second pistol grip was brought forward, it was installed under a block of 8 barrels, where the tactical grip was usually installed. With the first firing mechanism, conventional cartridges were fired, and the second was used to disperse tear gas. In addition, the shotgun was equipped with a removable shoulder wire support, which for convenience was equipped with a rubber butt pad.
The eight-barreled monster was not so bulky, although it had a rather impressive appearance. The shotgun was designed to use 20 caliber cartridges with an 3-inch cartridge. All 8 trunks were arranged in a circle, around the central axis. The shotgun had two pistol handles and two triggers, which made it possible to fire with both hands, both left and right. In order to reduce the weight of the whole structure, the shotgun was made on the basis of aluminum with separate metal inserts, while it was covered with painted epoxy resin.
Shotgun was available in four versions:
- The first option involved the location of a tank with tear gas between the trunks. To use non-lethal weapons, it was necessary to pull the trigger that was placed on the front pistol grip.
- The second version of the shotgun was distinguished by the presence of a barrel selector that allowed you to choose which particular barrel to shoot from.
- The third option involves the installation and the selector for the choice of the barrel, and a gas cylinder with tear gas (a kind of symbiosis of the first two options).
- The fourth version of the shotgun was the most simple. He did not have any features. Drummer on it just alternately turned around a group of trunks, stopping in front of the next. There was no tear gas cylinder on it.
It was impossible to reload the weapon during the battle, only after. The designer decided that 8 cartridges for a police officer or guard would be enough to crack down on a criminal. In addition, the ability to charge barrels with different types of ammunition (bullets, canister, rubber bullet, signal, smoke, etc.) was implemented. In this case, the shooter could choose what type of ammunition he needs to use at a particular point in time.
The founder of the Defender, Robert Hilberg, believed that his eight-barreled shotgun looked so menacing that any criminal would simply drop any desire to get involved with its owner. However, the American police met the development of Hilberg with even more distrust than his four-barreled predecessor. After conducting a series of tests in the police, they flatly refused it, preferring the old and tested pump guns in the case.
The reality proved that the weapon must be reloaded both during and outside the battle, and the presence of two triggers often caused the shooter only confusion, which in the end could lead to jamming of the barrels. At the same time, security companies, like ordinary citizens, did not get into the idea of armed with eight-barreled “Defender”, therefore the production of this shotgun was minimized, so it did not start well. The recession that began in the American economy also said its word.
At the same time, the weapon was easy to operate, fairly reliable, cheap to manufacture, and also had a very high firepower. To this can be added the possibility of using various ammunition and the possibility of choice (which of them to shoot). The shotgun looked very unusual and impressive, although it did not differ in large dimensions, its menacing look had an impressive restraining effect on people. However, neither the famous manufacturer of the company, nor sufficiently good combat characteristics, had any effect. The simplicity of the maintenance of the shotgun adversely affected its clever design. In this case, the creator could not solve the problem with slow reloading shotgun. This model has never been mass produced.
Despite this fact, the Defender, like its predecessor in the face of the Liberator, was constructively one of the most interesting and innovative shotguns of its time. For a long time, not a single even later development in this area could boast with such a combination of compactness, reliability, firepower and low production costs.
It should be noted that the designer Robert Hilberg never abandoned the idea of creating multi-barreled small arms and continued to work in this direction. In 1983, he created the four-barreled COP357 Derringer pistol, which could already be found on the market. In this pistol, the same cam mechanism was used to carry out alternate firing from each barrel, which was also used on its shotguns.
Specifications shotgun Colt Defender:
Length - 451 mm.
Barrel length - 305 mm.
Weight shotgun without ammunition - 3,9 kg.
Ammunition - Magnum 20 cartridges.
Amount of cartridges - 8.
Information sources:
http://getwar.ru/amerikanskijj-osvoboditel-winchester-liberator-i-zashhitnik-colt-defender.html
http://weaponland.ru/load/drobovik_colt_defender/44-1-0-908
http://www.guns.yfa1.ru/drobovik-osvoboditel-mechta-insurgenta.html
Information