Chinese Jingal gun .75 cal.
- Thread starter Al Flipo
- Start date
Interesting that the bolt locks on an interuppted thread at the rear. They remind me of a cartridge version of british wall guns. There are 2 or 3 wall guns in the basement of the White Tower in London. They look like a brown bess only about 8 feet long. Presumably for shooting over the ramparts of forts and castles
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
- Location
- London, Ontario
Holy...those things are massive!!!
What are you supposed to shoot with that anyway? Columns of charging elephants?
It seems kind of an overkill for a human target, the agility of a shooter equipped with one of those must be nil and I doubt it's enormous size actually gives it better accuracy over a smaller caliber (and shorter) rifle, like a 71/84 Mauser for example. Standard irons and the lack of optics pretty much confirm that it's not intended to be a 'sniper' cannon.
Strange contraption altogether with no visible practical use... but scores top points for the cool factor for sure.
It seems kind of an overkill for a human target, the agility of a shooter equipped with one of those must be nil and I doubt it's enormous size actually gives it better accuracy over a smaller caliber (and shorter) rifle, like a 71/84 Mauser for example. Standard irons and the lack of optics pretty much confirm that it's not intended to be a 'sniper' cannon.
Strange contraption altogether with no visible practical use... but scores top points for the cool factor for sure.
I suspect their intended use was for disabling things like cannon crews. Not necessarily for killing the individuals as shooting into ammunition piles with explosive bullets in the case of the largest calibers. My impression is that that was the purpose of the muzzle loading Jacobs rifles a few years earlier.
In terms of usefulness of caliber, remember that there were various types of swivel cannons and small artillery pieces of perhaps 1" or slightly bigger size. The Jingo guns and the earlier flintlock wall guns would have been a lighter and more portable version of the same. I can also see their use in shooting through wooden barricades to hit the people behind them.
cheers mooncoon
In terms of usefulness of caliber, remember that there were various types of swivel cannons and small artillery pieces of perhaps 1" or slightly bigger size. The Jingo guns and the earlier flintlock wall guns would have been a lighter and more portable version of the same. I can also see their use in shooting through wooden barricades to hit the people behind them.
cheers mooncoon
Hmm... makes sense I guess (so the ammo was incendiary then?). Still one hell of a big rifle to lug around the battlefield though!
Hmm... makes sense I guess (so the ammo was incendiary then?). Still one hell of a big rifle to lug around the battlefield though!
Easy to carry when you order some poor shlep to do it... In it's day, I bet it would have been a real pain if flanked by 'mortar' volley of these bullets while dealing with a heavy artillery frontal assault from your nice little fort...
I haven't read of incendiary rounds in the 1800s but Jacob amongst others experimented with explosive rounds. Not really sure how effective they were. Doesn't seem like you could get much explosive in a 1" round. Perhaps in the case of sacks of powder, all that was necessary was a few sparks to send the whole works up
cheers mooncoon
Early ivory hunters in Africa used explosive bullets in the larger 8 and 4 bore rifles as early as the 1860s. There is some information on how it was done in some of the older British hunting and firearms literature. As far as I understand it the bullets were cast in two pieces much like an extreme Minnie-ball with an additional thick base cap a bit like a gas check. The base would be crimped in place after the cavity was filled. If memory serves, the explosive compound was a similiar mixture to that used in earlier percussion caps. A one-inch projectile (which is about the diameter of a 4-guage) would certainly have a bullet big enough to hold a fair bit of a percussive mixture.
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