Medusa multi caliber revolver

[Ed steinberry]

Medusa Model 47 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Why doesn’t any big company make something like this now? There are videos of it on YouTube and it actually worked.

 

[russc2542]

Run run as fast as you can!

To answer your question, it's a gimmick. I don't doubt that it "worked" only that it worked "well". Loose enough chambers to make anything work means everything only kinda worked. Far better accuracy and reliability out of something with a more specifically cut chamber.

 

[Mgderf]

It was an ingenious solution for a nonexistent problem.

 

[Doug]

Might be somewhat useful if there was no reliable ammunition source and you couldn't roll your own.
It would probably be less practical than the famous Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Might be somewhat useful if there was no reliable ammunition source and you couldn't roll your own.
It would probably be less practical than the famous Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver.

Oh man, I wish I could afford a Webley-Fosbery. Such a cool gun.

 

[snapping turtle]

“One good shot “ was the tag line for years.
Thompson center contender does rimfire and center fire up to certain pressure levels. Want higher get the encore which does most anything but removes the rimfire Option. Shotgun rimfire muzzleloader center fire pistol and rifle and shotgun. 132 chambering I have been told in t/c barrels and 86 in encore barrels. (Inexpensive (at the time) accurate and available)

There are always a few. Around that feed the flames for switch barrel and cylinder revolvers But most find the expense and complex add cost most consumer are unwilling to pay for. They just offer them in different calibers and you need a pistol for each one. The big revolver guy from Evansville and then later greenfield Indiana had a couple of multi barrel multi caliber pistols at one time. The one I remember him showing me was 38 special and 22 rimfire 22 long rifle and 22 mag. He looked like wild bill with the facial hair and cowboy hat and for the life on me I can remember his name or the company name now. Mainly sold custom 45/70 handguns and the like. I remember clint Eastwood bought one. They are now no longer a company to my knowledge no one bought it after it moved to greenfield and the owner passed

 

[Doug]

Oh man, I wish I could afford a Webley-Fosbery. Such a cool gun.

Miles Archer was killed by a 38 caliber Webley-Fosbery, but it wasn't wielded by a gunsel.

 

[two70]

Medusa Model 47 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Why doesn’t any big company make something like this now? There are videos of it on YouTube and it actually worked.

I think this quote from the Wiki article answers your question, especially the part in bold: "The revolver was not a commercial success and the company that produced them ceased operations after just a few hundred units were made."

 

[Ed steinberry]

I think this quote from the Wiki article answers your question, especially the part in bold: "The revolver was not a commercial success and the company that produced them ceased operations after just a few hundred units were made."

I just feel like the only reason it wasn’t a commercial success is no one knew about the company so where would they find them? It’s like when the honor guard 9mm came out. Perfect gun but nobody knew who the hell they were so it tanked. There are countless videos of the gun working flawlessly.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

As I was around in the mid-90s, I shot one a couple of times in the late 90s. Meh.

Concept was cool, but as everything in guns is a compromise (as in every other earthly engineering endeavor), but the execution was hot trash because of the freeboring and the extraction. As an E in PACE, yeah, maybe, but it will have to be Korthesque in price because you will not recover any capital laid out for a looooonnnnnggggg time.

I thought that it MIGHT have a future as a single action with multiple cylinders or a single shot pistol like the T/C.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

I just feel like the only reason it wasn’t a commercial success is no one knew about the company so where would they find them? It’s like when the honor guard 9mm came out. Perfect gun but nobody knew who the hell they were so it tanked. There are countless videos of the gun working flawlessly.

No one knew? The gun nuts would not STOP talking about them in the late '90s.

What I remember was just the typical rationalizations to not buy it:

"I like that gun but I want it in .44."

"If they made it in .44/.45/10mm/some bizaare Serbian caliber, I would buy it today."

"If they made it in ______ finish, I would buy it today."

"I want a ___ inch barrel."

And on and on and on. Cool concept, **** poor execution, they will not sell, they won't be brought back.

Perhaps, in the near future, as 3-D advances, maybe we will see variants brought back but none of the big makers are going to bring back a trash tier gun that will not sell.

 

[two70]

I just feel like the only reason it wasn’t a commercial success is no one knew about the company so where would they find them? It’s like when the honor guard 9mm came out. Perfect gun but nobody knew who the hell they were so it tanked. There are countless videos of the gun working flawlessly.

The problem with a gun like this is that to fire every round that it can it has to sacrifice something as compared to a firearm designed for each particular round. It's a jack of all trades and a master of none. Most people prefer to pick a round or rounds and have a gun or guns for it or them. IMO, it's an interesting firearm and concept with limited practical utility.

 

[Ed steinberry]

No one knew? The gun nuts would not STOP talking about them in the late '90s.

That may be true, I did not find out about them until around 2012. However, I think with todays marketing and technology something like this has a chance of taking off again.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

That may be true, I did not find out about them until around 2012. However, I think with todays marketing and technology something like this has a chance of taking off again.

Not in the gun industry.

In PMFs, absolutely, and if Ivan, PSR or Ctrl Pew, get ahold of it with 3-D powdered metal additive manufacturing, oh yeah. They are all young so maybe.

 

[Ed steinberry]

The problem with a gun like this is that to fire every round that it can it has to sacrifice something as compared to a firearm designed for each particular round. It's a jack of all trades and a master of none. Most people prefer to pick a round or rounds and have a gun or guns for it or them. IMO, it's an interesting firearm and concept with limited practical utility.

You may be right about that. I think the versatility is very interesting but it's probably not as practical as they make it out to be. It's more along the lines of a ruger blackhawk with both the .357 cylinder and the 9mm cylinder IMO though. That's not practical or necessary either. Nobody needs a cowyboy gun that shoots 9mm. But they sell like crazy at the gun shop I used to work at.

 

[russc2542]

No one knew? The gun nuts would not STOP talking about them in the late '90s.

What I remember was just the typical rationalizations to not buy it:

"I like that gun but I want it in .44."

"If they made it in .44/.45/10mm/some bizaare Serbian caliber, I would buy it today."

"If they made it in ______ finish, I would buy it today."

"I want a ___ inch barrel."

And on and on and on. Cool concept, **** poor execution, they will not sell, they won't be brought back.

Perhaps, in the near future, as 3-D advances, maybe we will see variants brought back but none of the big makers are going to bring back a trash tier gun that will not sell.

They wouldn't buy it either way. Those are just verbalized excuses.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

They wouldn't buy it either way. Those are just verbalized excuses.

True dat.

 

[Doug]

I hear that guns chambered for 9 MM Parabellum (9x19) will also fire 9 MM Makarov (9x18) and .380 (9x17) as long as the extractor holds the case against the breechface.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I just feel like the only reason it wasn’t a commercial success is no one knew about the company so where would they find them? It’s like when the honor guard 9mm came out. Perfect gun but nobody knew who the hell they were so it tanked. There are countless videos of the gun working flawlessly.

No, they were in every major gun magazine of the era at least once. Exposure was not their problem. Execution for the pricepoint and lack of a need other than "huh, that's kinda cool" was their problem.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

No, they were in every major gun magazine of the era at least once. Exposure was not their problem. Execution for the pricepoint and lack of a need other than "huh, that's kinda cool" was their problem.

I would buy a Medusa if they made it in Pumpkin Spice Latte.