Manville gun

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The Manville gun was a stockless, semi-automatic revolver-style weapon designed by Charles J. Manville and introduced in 1935. It used a heavy cylinder that rotated for each shot, powered by a clockwork-type spring wound by hand during reloading. By 1938, Manville offered three bore sizes: 12-gauge, 25 mm, and 37 mm. Production stopped in 1943 due to weak sales.

The 1935 version held 24 rounds of 12-gauge shells in a spring-driven, rotary cylinder. The gun’s barrel was 11.1 inches long, and the rotating cylinder was made of aluminum alloy. It could be taken apart into two halves by unscrewing two large screws on top of the cylinder for loading and unloading. The firing mechanism used a back-plate grip to cock and release the striker when the trigger broke. Each cylinder had its own firing pin.

In 1936 a 25 mm version appeared, holding 18 rounds and firing 25 mm flare, smoke, and riot-gas shells. It could not fire explosive shells, and the walls of the cylinder were too thin for shot-shells. The 25 mm model used a shorter barrel (about 9.5 to 9.75 inches) and hard rubber rear grips instead of wood. The First Model 25 mm used the same two securing screws as the 12-gauge. The Second Model added a long locking bar with a turned-down bolt-handle that locked into a recess in the frame, letting the back plate be opened to remove spent shells and reload. Barrel and cylinder inserts allowed firing 12-gauge shells or .38 Special cartridges.

In 1938 a twelve-round gun with a 37 mm bore was introduced for police and security use. It fired 37 mm flare, smoke, or tear gas shells and was designed for indirect fire, with the barrel mounted below the cylinder. Its heavy weight required a tripod or pintle mount.

The Indiana National Guard used 26.5 mm Manville guns to disperse strikers during the Terre Haute General Strike in 1935, firing flare and tear gas shells.

Sales were limited because the weapons were large and heavy. Manville ceased production in 1943 and destroyed all tooling and records. A similar concept resurfaced later as the Hawk MM-1 in the 1970s. The 1980 film The Dogs of War used a Second Model 25 mm Manville-based prop, depicted as a more powerful “XM-18E1R projectile-launcher.”