The Medusa Model 47, commonly known as the M47 Medusa, is an American revolver with the unique capability to fire multiple cartridges without any modifications.
History[]
The idea of this pistol came about when Jonathan Phillips, a former NASA computer scientist and avid sport shooter, wanted to make a weapon that could switch between calibers easily on ranges so one did not have to carry more than one weapon.
The weapon designed by Phillips and Roger Hunziker and began production in 1996. Advertised as a survival weapon that could make it through "the apocalypse", the weapon was heavily advertised for its ability to fire 25 calibers.
A sound concept but flawed in practice, the pistol worked flawlessly but was ultimately considered a commercial failure since no one appreciated the concept. Approximately 219 pistols were sold in the US and 25 went to Switzerland and a few to Germany before Phillips & Rogers decided to close the business.[1]
Design Details[]
Essentially a Smith & Wesson K-Frame, the Medusa is a rather simplistic-looking but well-made revolver at first glance; however, there are some notable differences and other points of note that make the revolver much more different and rather interesting.
The revolver's cylinder is made of mil-spec 4330 vanadium steel, the same type of alloy used in the barrels of the M61 Vulcan used by F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets. The Medusa's frame is made of 8620 steel hardened to 28 Rockwell; this allows it to withstand the various pressures of the rounds it fires. The barrel itself is made of 4150 chromemoly steel and is available in lengths from 2.5 to 6 inches (6.4 to 15.2 centimeters) and is also fluted; however, the fluting appears to only be for aesthetic purposes since the effects of the barrel heating up appear to not be that significant in a gun of this size.[2]
The weapon's cylinder is what makes the weapon rather interesting; the cylinder has a special extractor with six small flexible fingers on the rod of the extractor star. These fingers allow the weapon to headspace both rimless and rimmed cartridges; these fingers hold the rounds in place so that the firing pin can actually hit the cartridge and fire it. It is said quite a bit of design work went into designing this. Hunziker eventually designed the 3 piece firing pin to prevent primer puncture and patented it. The revolver also has a double-tapered forcing cone which is supposed to work with the wide variety of cartridges the Medusa is supposed to chamber; this forcing cone forces the rounds into the same orientation every time so they can chamber.[1]
Calibers[]
Touted for its ability to fire multiple calibers, the Medusa was advertised to fire at least 25 in the .38, 9mm and .357 caliber families in various press material involving it. However, including obscure cartridges, the weapon can actually fire up to 117 different cartridges (and possibly more).[3]
The "original" 25 calibers (actually 18) the weapon was claimed to be able to fire are as follows:
- .380 ACP
- .380 Revolver
- 9Ć18mm Ultra
- 9Ć18mm Makarov[note 1]
- 9mm Browning Patronen
- 9mm Export
- 9mm Glisenti
- 9mm Kurz
- 9Ć23mm Largo
- 9mm Long
- 9mm Luger
- 9mm Mauser
- 9Ć19mm Parabellum
- 9mm Rimmed
- 9Ć23mm Steyr
- 9mm Winchester Magnum
- .38 ACP
- .38 Auto
- .38 Colt Super
- .38 Midrange
- .38 Short Colt
- .38 S&W
- .38 Special
- .357 Magnum
Other than the above, the weapon can fire cartridges such as .356 TSW and is speculated to be able to fire 9Ć21mm IMI, .38 AMU and .38 TJ; the weapon cannot fire .357 Remington Maximum cartridges as they are too long to chamber properly.[3]
The weapon is also able to fire some sub-.38 caliber cartridges, such as 7.62Ć25mm Tokarev and .32 ACP.
Notes[]
- ā The Medusa cannot fire the 9mm Makarov cartridge safely as it is actually a 9.2mm cartridge.
Flaws[]
As mentioned above, the multiple caliber revolver was a sound concept, but rather flawed in practice; a notable flaw about the weapon is that the flexible fingers on the extractor star are noted to be rather brittle. If somehow those fingers break off, the weapon will not work as it should.
Another notable flaw is the weapon's execution of the multiple caliber system; as the weapon was designed to chamber all aforementioned calibers and more, the weapon wasn't exactly optimized for any one caliber. Due to this, the weapon has a tendency to misfire.
Yet another flaw was the weapon's questionable accuracy; due to this strange multiple caliber system, when the weapon was fired, there was about an inch of freebore before the bullet hit the rifling in the barrel. This usually results in bullets keyholing.[1]