Small handguns were convenient weapons because they could be easily carried on horseback, and a person armed with a pair of pistols could shoot off one and then the other, getting two shots off before needing to reload. Attempts were made as early as the sixteenth century in Europe to manufacture handguns which could let off several shots consecutively. Some used a cluster of barrels, and others, like the modern revolver, rotated a series of loaded cylinders around a central barrel. A revolver is considered any gun with a revolving series of barrels or chambers that are turned to align them with the firing mechanism. A London lawyer, James Puckle (1667-1724) is credited with inventing an early revolver that met with limited success. Puckle advertised that his gun could fire 63 times in seven minutes, an extremely high rate of fire. The revolving cylinders were turned by hand, and...