The Fosbery Pump Shotgun was a British prototype shotgun designed by George Vincent Fosbery in 1891. The design was covered by British Patent No. 11,339 of 1891 and represented an early attempt to combine a slide-action mechanism with a magazine-fed firearm.
The surviving example is chambered for 16-bore ammunition and incorporates an unusual multi-lug rotating bolt. The design did not enter commercial production or military service. Its rotating-bolt arrangement has subsequently been noted for similarities to mechanisms used in later firearms, although the relationship between these designs is a matter of historical comparison rather than direct lineage.
Development The Fosbery Pump Shotgun was designed by George Vincent Fosbery in 1891. Fosbery was a British inventor and firearms designer best known for the later Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver. The shotgun represented an early attempt to develop a manually operated repeating shotgun using a novel bolt mechanism.
Design The prototype was chambered for 16-bore ammunition and featured a single barrel. Its design incorporated a pump-action mechanism together with a multi-lug rotating bolt, an unusual arrangement for a firearm of its period.
The rotating-bolt design has been noted for similarities to mechanisms found in several later firearms. However, such comparisons do not by themselves establish a direct developmental connection between the Fosbery design and later weapons.
Fate The Fosbery Pump Shotgun remained a prototype and did not enter military service or known commercial production. Its historical significance lies primarily in its early use of an unusual rotating-bolt design in a pump-action shotgun.
See also
List of shotguns George Vincent Fosbery Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver
References