Before the modern era of firearms, gunmakers came up with ingenious ways of increasing the ammunition capacity and reloading speed of firearms. These efforts (and My Little Pony) I find a constant source of fascination.

This is the Harrington Volley Gun. It and similar percussion designs allowed a user to reload quickly by replacing the entire chamber block and firing all rounds -- in this example seven .31 caliber bullets -- with a single cap.

Link -via Pocket Pistols, Historic Firearms, & Curiosities | Photos: Gun Data