While I’ve been showing some love to the up and coming C&Rsenal channel, Ian at Forgotten Weapons is not one to be forgotten. Latest in his video series comes from another Auction house, this time Rock Island Auction company where Ian was able to get his hands on the rare Cochran Turret Revolver.

Turret guns are revolvers who have an atyipcal layout. Common revolvers have an axis of rotation parallel to the chamber and barrel of the gun. On a turret gun, the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the chamber. They are a novel solution that caused its own set of problems. Specifically, turret guns are a safety issue in the rare event of a chain fire. With the perpendicular axis of rotation, chambers are pointing in various directions including back at the shooter!

As always, Ian hits the history nail on the head going into detail of Cochran, the designer who created this particular turret handgun. Cochran has a fantastical origin story involving a Sultan, a rotary cannon, and a large bag of gold. This bag of gold was used to finance his development of other firearms including the turret revolver in the series.

Check out the video below and enjoy the true story of Cochran and his turret revolver.