Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun
- Category
- Machine Gun
- Barrel
- 610 mm
- Weight, empty
- 257.60 kg
- Introduced
- 1861
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun was a 25-barrel American volley gun of the Civil War, designed by the dentist Josephus Requa and built by riflemaker William Billinghurst of Rochester, New York. Its .58-caliber barrels were loaded together by a 25-round perforated strip and fired in a single near-simultaneous volley triggered by one percussion cap, letting a three-man crew loose about 175 rounds in roughly seven volleys per minute. Though it impressed in trials, the Army never formally adopted it, and its weight and immobility limited it to a handful of siege actions.
It was nicknamed the 'Covered Bridge Gun' because its low, wide 25-barrel sweep was ideal for defending the narrow approaches of covered bridges and causeways, where a single gun could rake an entire span with a wall of .58 lead.
Never officially adopted; Gen. James W. Ripley rejected it over ammunition-cost and logistics concerns despite favourable 1862 trials. Caliber given as nominal .58 (14.7 mm) or more precisely 13.2x52mmR (.532 in bullet). Effective range varies by source (~550 m to ~1,189 m). Weight is the carriage-mounted figure.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Billinghurst & Requa
- Category
- Machine Gun
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1861 to 1865
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 610 mm
- Overall length
- 2616 mm
- Weight, empty
- 257.60 kg
- Weight, loaded
- 259.30 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Firing mechanism
- Percussion
- Capacity
- 25
- Magazine
- Internal
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 267 m/s
- Effective range
- 550 m
- Rate of fire
- 175 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Twenty five barrel- Simultaneous volley
- Perforated loading strip
- Single percussion train
- Field carriage mounted
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 261 machine guns | 257.60 kg | 10.50 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 260 machine guns | 2616 mm | 1156 mm | Among the longest tenth |
| Barrel lengthAmong 257 machine guns | 610 mm | 605 mm | Near the median |
| Magazine capacityAmong 222 machine guns | 25 | 50 | Holds fewer rounds than about 80% |
Answers
Questions about the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun
How much does the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun weigh?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun weighs 257.60 kg (567.91 lb) empty and 259.30 kg (571.66 lb) loaded.
What caliber is the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun is chambered in .58 Caliber.
How many rounds does the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun hold?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun holds 25 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun is 2616 mm (103.0 in) long overall, with a 610 mm (24.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun is made by Billinghurst & Requa (United States). It was designed by Josephus Requa.
When was the Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun introduced?
The Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun was introduced in 1861 and discontinued in 1865.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Union Army
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/requa-battery' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "requa-battery", "name": "Billinghurst Requa Battery Gun", "manufacturer": { "id": "billinghurst-requa", "name": "Billinghurst & Requa", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": null, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "775572d302ece6a7572158e803c39390b9a189850e20a2e798fbc2c9aed96837" }, "category": { "id": "machine-gun", "name": "Machine Gun", "description": "Fully automatic firearms for sustained fire" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1861, "barrel_length_mm": 610, "weight_empty_g": 257600, "action_type": null}