Leonardo da Vinci’s famous multi-barrel organ gun design had 33 barrels.
The weapon arranged many small cannon barrels in a fan-shaped or organ-like formation. The arrangement was intended to fire a broad volley, potentially allowing one group of barrels to be loaded while another was fired. Leonardo’s military notebooks contain several rapid-fire and multi-barrel concepts, reflecting his interest in increasing battlefield firepower.
The 33-barrel design was not a modern machine gun. It relied on separate gun barrels and black powder, and its practical rate of fire would have been limited by loading, smoke, recoil, and battlefield handling. As with many of Leonardo’s military sketches, there is no clear evidence that this exact weapon entered service.
The term “organ gun” refers to the visual resemblance between the parallel barrels and the pipes of a musical organ. It is different from Leonardo’s armored fighting vehicle, which also included multiple cannons but used them as part of a mobile armored platform.