gunner Gordon

The "boarders away" volume on firearms has a number of drawings and pics on these weapons. there are many different ways to do the same thing. Since these weapons are found in ship's inventories from the doglock era to the first half of the 1800 hundreds there must have been enough success to warrent further developement. As with the larger artillery versions, there was a problem with timing and fuses.With the ship's guns, most problems go overboard, not always the case with the hand held version.I have a nice bronze chambered type that I'm sizing to shoot tennis balls for some of the pesky plastic boats that present themselves as targets during the tall ship cannon battles.

From my experiance in the business the markup on the weapons from overseas manufacturers like the ones coming out of canada from india is about 100%. they double the price to cover shipping ,damages, and quality issues. you would be amazed at the whole story.

Oil and a fine steel wool will produce a nice brown patina on a rusted weapon with semi polished highlights that give a recently used look and not the "weekend pirate" look. Scotch brite pads for a bit more used metalic look, scotch bright soaked with brasso to clean brass or bronze with a utilitarian look. An interesting idea for markings is the rack or unit #s stamped in stocks, or ,on british arms the ship's name engraved on the barrel with the captain's name after it; HMS SURPRISE Capt Aubrey , a form of accountability for ship's stores. The east india company had a similar system. Hope this helps

I've lots to remember o' the last 15 years, but the first picture in me 'ead is the look of joy and adventure in me tue love's bright blue eyes the first time she saw our 6pdr on HMS Surprise's gun deck waitin for her hand to fire that first round at the Californian.Lads, if ye want to put a spark in yer life ,let yer mate fire your gun, let her load it and command it, yer powder will be gone in no time, but your smile will last forever....

aye BlackheartedPearl, at least ye wern't alone... take me hand, I'm a stranger in paradise.....pressganged?