Firing a swivel/wall gun

[Commodore Swab]

Ive been thinking about this and its got me wondering. Often you can find original blunderbusses with a yoke made to be mounted as they are too big to fire from the shoulder or small swivel guns. These are pieces small enough for one person to pick up and fire most would have around a 1 inch bore give or take. I can see a swivel with no lock needing a linstock or similar but a flintlock wouldn't. Guns of this size can be handled by 1 or 2 people, how many would of been firing them originally? Would you swab a massive blunderbuss or have charges and a prick? These seem to fit into a void between cannons and small arms. If you brought something like this to an event like PiP what would be the safest way to fire? Im assuming something similar to this, with a 1 inch bore it falls into the cannon class but could still be hefted around by 1 person.

[Hawkyns]

I'd rate it by the size of the charge, not the bore. 200 grains or less, and I'd treat it like a musket. Over that and I'd consider it a cannon. the noise made would depend on the length of the barrel, type of breech, iron or bronze, etc.. so the amount of powder needed to make a respectable bang would not neccesailry corelate to the bore size.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[Commodore Swab]

As a measuring stick I would compare it to my small cannon which also has a 1 inch bore and roughly the same length within a few inches, material would be the same as well. My small cannon uses 1 oz of FF per shot for a respectable bang, this is foil wrapped with no wadding. The Viceroy and I talked about it today and we couldn't really come up with a plan either. Cartridges rammed home and swabbed sounds good but firing off a pan and trying to run a pick thru a flintlock vent seems to leave a be a safer way of dealing with a charge yet I think would be more prone to a misfire.

[rusty spike]

the pics from colonial spanish arms shows a wall gun and the type of yoke they used. As to loading I have an 88 cal wheel lock that I have used for a swivel and a good charge in it is between 150 and 200 grains. Just a warning I made more noise than a six pounder when fired. I just treated it like you would a wshoulder gue but with a rest. I use paper cartridges but just dump the powder and use the paper for wadding.

[MarkG]

Ive been thinking about this and its got me wondering. Often you can find original blunderbusses with a yoke made to be mounted as they are too big to fire from the shoulder or small swivel guns. These are pieces small enough for one person to pick up and fire most would have around a 1 inch bore give or take. I can see a swivel with no lock needing a linstock or similar but a flintlock wouldn't. Guns of this size can be handled by 1 or 2 people, how many would of been firing them originally? Would you swab a massive blunderbuss or have charges and a prick? These seem to fit into a void between cannons and small arms. If you brought something like this to an event like PiP what would be the safest way to fire? Im assuming something similar to this, with a 1 inch bore it falls into the cannon class but could still be hefted around by 1 person.

I think that the need for swabbing would depend partly on how it was loaded. With a cannon you put in the cartridge and prick it. There is a chance that pieces of the casing are left behind and that is what you are swabbing and worming for. Smaller pieces are loaded with loose powder and any wadding is on top of the charge.

This piece was probably loaded the same way as a shoulder-fired piece so there would be no powder casing to worry about. That touch hole does not look like it is meant to have a vent prick run through it.

Mark

[rickdog999]

This thing looks almost obscene.

[Commodore Swab]

You should see the barrel, its cut out.

[rickdog999]

awesome.