Henrion, Dassy & Heuschen double-barrel revolvers


The Henrion, Dassy & Heuschen double-barrel revolver was a type of revolver with two stacked barrels and two concentric sets of chambers, each serving its own barrel. They were fired by a single hammer which had two firing pins. The chambers were staggered, such that the gun fired only round at a time. These revolvers were based on a 1910 patent held by the Belgian firm of Henrion, Dassy & Heuschen, and were made in various calibers.
The 6.35 mm and 6.5 Velodog varieties had 20 chambers, while the 7.65 mm variant had 16 chambers. For reloading they broke open along a hinge on the top-rear of the frame, like the Spirlet revolver.
They were manufactured from 1911 to 1928 and were marketed under a variety of names that were supposed to denote power and masculinity. Names such as "Wild West", "Redoubtable", or even "Machine-gun HDH" were used for promotional purposes.
The arrangement itself was not new, having been tried in the Lefaucheux 20-round double-barreled, pinfire revolver of 1862.
The Ludovici revolver is a derivative.