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Strickland and son

Marshal Strickland threatens Buford Tannen with a double barrel shotgun.

"Take that, you mutated son of a bitch!"
—Otis Peabody after shooting at Marty McFly with a double-barrel, mistaking a radiation-suited Marty McFly for an alien
"If you can't read the sign, Tannen, I assume you can read this."
—Marshal Strickland, threatening Buford Tannen with a double-barreled shotgun

A double-barreled shotgun was, as the name suggests, a shotgun with twin barrels instead of a single; this gave it better firing capability, but it had limited range and only two shots before reloading was required. Individuals in various time periods carried weapons of this type.

This type of shotgun was a common weapon in America, usually for home defense as demonstrated (somewhat poorly) by Otis Peabody. Marshal James Strickland also carried one in 1885, which he used to threaten Buford Tannen on several occasions; his son carried a sawn-off version, which offered greater firepower at reduced range.

History[]

The owner of the Palace Saloon, Beauregard Tannen, father to Buford, grandfather to Irving, and the great-grandfather of Biff, kept a double-barreled shotgun at his disposal as means to defend his property against intruders, especially against a time-traveling Edna Strickland who attempted to burn down the saloon.

Otis Peabody kept a double-barreled shotgun on his family farm as a means of defending his home from threats. One of these threats (a crashed alien spaceship and a yellow-suited occupant) was actually Marty McFly in the DeLorean time machine, who had managed to travel back in time to 1955. Thinking they were under attack, Otis grabbed his shotgun and fired at the 'invader', missing each time and destroying several objects, including his own mailbox.

A double-barreled shotgun was also used by Marshal James Strickland in 1885, where he threatened Buford Tannen after he refused to hand over his weapons before entering the Hill Valley Festival. After Tannen complied, he put the gun down and lectured his son on discipline. The Marshal was later shot in the back by Tannen after getting his weapon shot out of his hands; though his son attempted to threaten Tannen with a sawn-off double-barrel, he relented after the outlaw killed his father.

Seamus McFly used a shotgun while hunting; one time he used it to kill two rabbits for supper.

A guard on a Wells Fargo stagecoach witnessed by Marty leaving Hill Valley was equipped with a double-barrel shotgun, also referred to as a coach gun.

B Tannen Rifle

Beauregard Tannen levels his shotgun at Edna Strickland.

In the 1931 formed as a result of an alternate timeline created when she accidentally burned down Hill Valley, an elderly Edna Strickland, alias Mary Pickford, owned a double-barrel shotgun. She attempted to use the weapon to kill Marty McFly and Emmett Brown, but failed when William McFly intervened. Marty and Doc were once again threatened with losing their prospects of fathering children forever by the business end of Edna's shotgun. They had caused her to steal the DeLorean and travel back to 1876. This was the year that she had jumped to when she unintentionally destroyed Hill Valley, in an ill-thought scheme to prevent the Palace Saloon from opening.

Marty and Doc trace Edna to the Palace Saloon, where she is priming a stack of hay with kerosene, ready to set the establishment on fire and ultimately result in the destruction of the town. The saloon's owner Beauregard Tannen woke up to investigate the noises inside his saloon. After finding Edna preparing to burn the hay, he confronted her with his shotgun, but was disarmed by Marty before anyone was harmed and accidentally resulting in the demise of Hill Valley.

Appearances[]

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