I just finished reading this month’s American Rifleman, and I must say that my favorite article was the regular column, “I Have This Old Gun…” by Garry James. This article was about the Allen “Dragoon” Pepperbox, and I have been fascinated with pepperboxes ever since the first time I played Monopoly.
I had heard that all barrels fired at once, which I thought was quite awesome and terrifying all at the same time, but this article mentions that this was not always the case, and was often a misfire called a “chainfire.”
I did also enjoy the article titled, “Survivor: The Unlikely resilience of the AR-7” by Jeremiah Knupp. I had often wondered if these things really floated (the Marlin Papoose as well), but never had the money nor the courage to find out for myself. Thanks, Mr. Knupp, for answering my question! I also had no idea that it was originally set for .22 Hornet, which is a caliber I am having a lot of fun shooting from my Thompson Center Contender.
Those were my two favorite articles, but as usual, I enjoyed the bulk of the magazine.
Thank you for reading my post.
References:
- James, Garry. “I Have This Old Gun… Allen Dragoon Pepperbox,” American Rifleman, January, 2017. pp 116.
- Knupp, Jeremiah. “Survivor: The Unlikely Resilience of the AR-7,” American Rifleman, January, 2017. pp 81-87, 112-113.
Shoot, Camp, Fish 
Reblogged this on and commented:
The AR7 that I owned was the older one prior to Henry purchasing the company/rights. It was a dismal gun, I am sorry to say, because I bought it with high hopes. I kept it until after the flood of 2012, because I foolishly thought that maybe, someone would come up with a magic wand and remedy the collection of ills, but the AR7 was sour from day one to day last.
Yeah, I was afraid I would be disappointed in it. Perhaps as a beater .22, it would be a good gun to give your teenager to scamper about in the woods, but it is too underpowered to take down any real game in a survival situation, and I was skeptical of the floating ability. I’ve also never heard of the Marlin Papoose’s performance, so I am afraid it is even worse. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one in person.
Small game it was nice for squirrel. Fits in a pack, remove and assemble, let the kids carry it, and then when game sighted, hand them the magazine with two rounds in it. But the ever constant failure to operate. I did much better with a Ruger single action army in .22LR. After the AR7 was designated to the gun vault permanently, the trusty Savage bolt actions came out, and there was never any disappointment. For cold weather, the Savages liked kerosene for cleaning the bolt and I rubbed contact points of the bolt with graphite from a pencil to dry lube it.