Revolver

Revolvers were the first truly multi shot weapon. Previously to create a gun that could be quickly fired more than once, required multiple barrels and firing mechanisms, which basically equates to welding too guns together. A revolver works by having several firing chambers arranged in a circle in a cylindrical block which are brought into alignment with the firing mechanism and barrel one at a time. Most comonly such guns have a six shot capacity and each chamber has to be reloaded manualy by hand. This makes the procedure of reloading such a weapon slow (even with the help of such devices as quick loaders). On the other hand due to the simplicity of design and relatively few moving parts, a revolver is cheap to make and almost guaranteed to work, first time, every time.

For these reasons, such guns are the most commonly owned weapons for personal self defence.