A
coach gun is a double-barrel shotgun, generally with barrels approximately 18" in length placed side by side (SxS). The name comes from the use of such
shotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s on stagecoaches by
shotgun messengerIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a shotgun messenger was a private "express messenger" and guard, especially on a stagecoach but also on a train, in charge of overseeing and guarding a valuable private shipment, such as particularly the contents of a strongbox or safe...
s in the American Wild West and during the
ColonialColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
period of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
The term
"Coach gun" was coined in 1858 when Wells, Fargo & Co. began regular stagecoach service from
Tipton, MissouriTipton is a city in Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Tipton is located at ....
to
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
and issued shotguns to its drivers for defense along the perilous 2,800 mile route.
A
coach gun is a double-barrel shotgun, generally with barrels approximately 18" in length placed side by side (SxS). The name comes from the use of such
shotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s on stagecoaches by
shotgun messengerIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a shotgun messenger was a private "express messenger" and guard, especially on a stagecoach but also on a train, in charge of overseeing and guarding a valuable private shipment, such as particularly the contents of a strongbox or safe...
s in the American Wild West and during the
ColonialColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
period of
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
History
The term
"Coach gun" was coined in 1858 when Wells, Fargo & Co. began regular stagecoach service from
Tipton, MissouriTipton is a city in Moniteau County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,261 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Tipton is located at ....
to
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
and issued shotguns to its drivers for defense along the perilous 2,800 mile route. There was no single manufacturer for the traditional coach gun, as it was a generic term describing a class of shotguns offered in a variety of barrel lengths from 12 to 20 inches, either by the factory or from owners and gunsmiths cutting down the barrels. These shotguns featured external hammers and were manufactured by
Remington ArmsRemington Arms is a major American manufacturer of rifles, shotguns, other firearms, revolvers and ammunition. They also license the Remington name to hunting apparel, Arctic Cat ATV's, and other hunting and shooting products manufactured by other companies. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet...
,
IthacaThe Ithaca Gun Company is a manufacturer of shotguns and rifles originally established in Ithaca, New York in 1880.Over the years, Ithaca made numerous firearms, most notably the Ithaca 37 shotgun...
, Meriden, Buckley, Burgess,
Colt's Manufacturing CompanyColt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer founded in 1847. It is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of dozens of different firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...
, Hunter Arms,
HusqvarnaHusqvarna was a military arsenal founded in 1689 to produce muskets for the Swedish Army.The companies have since grown and split and the brand is used by several companies...
, Lefever, Parker,
Sharps Rifle Manufacturing CompanySharps Rifle Manufacturing Company was the manufacturer of Sharps Rifle. It was organized by Samuel Robbins and Richard S. Lawrence as a holding company in Hartford, Connecticuton October 9, 1851 with $100,000 in capital. John C. Palmer was president, Christian Sharps an engineer, and Richard S....
, Savage-Stevens, Villegia, and Westly Richards to name a few.. Modern coach guns are manufactured by
StoegerStoeger Industries is a manufacturer and importer of firearms into the United States.The company's Stoeger Publishing division also publishes books and videos about firearms, hunting and fishing.Stoeger Industries' headquarters are in , United States...
(Brazil), Boito (Brazil), Baikal (Russia) (which is now being distributed by Remington under the name Spartan Gunworks), Huglu Armsco (Turkey), Khan (Turkey). Diamond (Turkey), Rossi (Italy), and a variety of Chinese companies for US distribution through Century International Arms and Interstate Armscorp.
Modern coach guns are commonly encountered in
Cowboy action shootingCowboy Action Shooting , also known as Western Action Shooting or Single Action Shooting, is a competitive shooting sport that originated in California, USA, in the early 1980s...
competitions, among collections of
WesternThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
guns, as home-defense weapons, and even as "scrub guns" for
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing living animals for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
,
woodcockThe woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus Scolopax. Only two woodcocks are widespread, the others being localised island endemics; most are found in the Northern Hemisphere, but a few range into the Wallacea...
,
rabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit , Cottontail rabbit , and the Amami rabbit...
,
hareHares and jackrabbits are leporidaes belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets.Hares are very fast-moving...
, and/or wild pig in scrub, bush or marshlands, where the 24"+ barrels of a traditional
shotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
would prove unwieldy. The modern coach gun can be had in a variety of configurations suitable for both Cowboy Action Shooting competition and hunting..
Coach guns are similar to sawn-off shotguns but differ in that coach guns manufactured after 1898 are offered as new with 18" barrels and 26" overall length, and meet legal requirements for civilian possession in the USA,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, and
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
. In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, however, shotguns must have a minimum barrel length of 24" to be eligible for ownership on a Shotgun Certificate, and shotguns with barrels under this length (which includes Coach guns) must be obtained on the more stringent Firearms Certificate. Some modern coach guns feature internal hammers as opposed to the traditional external hammers.
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