Before modern revolvers, the pepperbox was a popular low-cost defensive firearm. Between the invention and patenting of proper revolvers and their widespread affordable availability, a transitional style of pepperbox grew up, particularly in the UK. These guns used a paperboy style action, with the barrel cluster truncated into a cylinder and a single rifled barrel affixed to the end of the axis pin. The result was a pretty weak firearm, but one which was accessible and inexpensive, and more accurate than the traditional smoothbore pepperbox.