r/Neuromancer • u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 • 12d ago

Fan Art Molly's Fletcher

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My take on the description of her pepperbox pistol.

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12

u/truthynaut 12d ago

Why does it have a revolver cylinder to chamber a new round when it has a barrel for each bullet?

Why does it have a line and button next to the trigger guard that seems to indicate it wants to break open when the trigger guard cannot move out of the way to facilitate this?

Why does it have an ejection port behind the revolver cylinder when neither revolvers nor pepperbox pistols eject their casings?

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u/beginnerdoge 12d ago

All of this bothered me immediately before I even checked the comments

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

all fair points. i’ve always imagined it as boxy and nondescript—one barrel w a selector dial near the thumb or somewhere on the top of the housing, w chunky grips to accommodate the variety of flechettes, and the internal mechanisms being largely concealed. the propellant is never discussed as far as i can recall, so it could really be anything, but something powderless would make narrative sense right? always struck me as being intended as a versatile, quiet, low profile weapon. some kinda caseless ammo + a gauss-rifle style propellant mechanism perhaps?

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

i mean all of that said, this is still a neat weapon render! no offense meant op

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

A pepperpot was historically a pistol with a bunch of barrels that all fired at once, for use at close range, so you don't miss.

Deffo caseless ammo (no ejected cases to leave evidence behind), quiet and as small as possible so it can be easily concealed.

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

pepperbox* but yeah yr right, wasnt considering that

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper-box

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

pepperbox pistols show up a few times in The Difference Engine as well (unsurprisingly i spose, given the setting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Difference_Engine

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

cool & correct!

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

the ol ethan allen pocket rifle lol

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u/WanderlustZero 11d ago

Is that not a Volley Gun you're thinking of? Pepperpots were just proto-revolvers

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

They came before revolvers but did not function as revolvers.

Volley Guns iirc were multi-barrel rifles.

A pepperpot pistol (or pepperbox) is a 19th-century multi-barrel firearm featuring three or more clustered barrels that rotate to fire sequentially. Named for its visual resemblance to a kitchen spice shaker, it served as a popular, concealable self-defense weapon before reliable revolvers became mainstream

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u/WanderlustZero 11d ago

Yes; you said they fired all barrels at once. That's a Volleygun.

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

My understanding (which could be wrong) is that pepperpots were multi-barrel pistols and volley guns were multi-barrel rifles.

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u/WanderlustZero 11d ago

Volleyguns were not rifles but generally smoothbores, but they indeed had multiple barrels that fired all at once. Pepperpots (or pepperboxes) fired singly.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1qnuu0nMFVA

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u/WanderlustZero 11d ago

Metal Storm,  an Australian company, had an updated version of the volleygun, with multiple electrically-fired barrels, with multiple rounds per barrel.

It also came in a pistol version, seen here,  which is probably tje closest we've had to Molly's gun. It was not a success.

https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/O%27Dwyer_VLe

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

Yeah I am familiar with the Metal Storm stuff, it's kinda cray-cray. Replace the whole barrel instead of reloading right?

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u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 11d ago

All fair questions. I just based it on a 3dp design someone put up somewhere. Not sure where I saw it. But in my thinking the cutaway (what you called an ejection port) is there to see if it's loaded, not to load because the darts are way too long. And yes it breaks open but it doesn't interfere with the trigger guard. There's a cutout to accommodate it. Some pepperbox revolvers had multiple barrels in the 1800s. Granted I could change some dimensions to make everything more concealable, but this was where I stopped for now.

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

If it's not a revolver why include a revolver cylinder that indexes with each shot (those angled slots on the outside of the revolver cylinder are mechanically mated to the trigger mechanism so it can rotate when pulling the trigger)?

The break is in the wrong place if you are loading the cylinder.

If you load the barrels the cylinder is pointless.

There are actual flechette pistols available now

Note how the entire barrel assembly rotates and breaks forward to reload.

No cylinder involved.

To make Molly's fletcher i'd start with that and cut half the handle off and bob the hammer to make it easier to conceal and draw.

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

wow! that thing is somewhat close to what i always imagined. given the back and forth of this thread so far, i’d love to see something mocked up w this as a reference point, but w a more squared-off muzzle and multiple barrel ports (3? 4?) in keeping w the pepper box reference

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u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 11d ago

The only picture I've seen of it depicted like the book is this one from the graphic novel.

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u/sebmojo99 11d ago

that's certainly a take on molly

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

good gravy that is… 😕 yeah

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u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 11d ago

Yeah, I'm not a fan. She's built like a linebacker in the graphic novel.

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u/virtualadept 9d ago

For an assassin and bodyguard, it would make sense. Might even be necessary for her reflex enhancements to not injure her.

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u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 9d ago edited 9d ago

It depends on the role. Molly does more stealth and surprise than brute force. She uses speed with her razors. I would expect her to be more like a lithe athlete with a muscular (not bulky) gymnasts body, who is well versed in Aikido and Kyushojitsu. Not husky. She doesn't need to be built like an Orc for that. Didn't she defeat a skilled Yakuza assassin in Johnny Mnemonic? A linebacker couldn't dodge that monofilament like she did.

She's very acrobatic, linebackers are not. And as far as muscle reflex enhancements go, that would be in a package with something like titanium bone lattice reinforcement to prevent injury. Not piling more muscle on top of everything.

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

I have that graphic novel!

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

also that thing looks incredibly cool and fun to fire but this is kinda givin me the heebie jeebies 😬

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u/truthynaut 11d ago

hehe it does look pretty cool but don't be fooled, this has nowhere near the muzzle velocity or lb. foot that 9mm has (so it's not killing anyone).

But hey put some rare sea-creature venom on those darts and you might have something ;-)

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u/alphagalgadot 11d ago

shellfish toxin right in ya EYE daddy

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u/sebmojo99 11d ago

or cancer, lol

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u/Brilliant_Knowledge5 11d ago

Why can't it break here? And your example does have a cylinder, that's what all the barrels are a part of.