Anybody Know The Caliber Of This Monster??

[Mulebrain]

Giant cannon from Russia! What is the story behind this cannon?

 

[robinghewitt]

That's the Czar's cannon, I seem to remember it's 16 feet long and 36" bore.

 

[Mulebrain]

I guess I will answer my own post!

http://www.moscow-hotels.com/eng/guide/kremlin/tsarcannon.html


Neat History

 

[CrufflerSteve]

Isn't there an article in the current or a recent issue of the 'The Artillerman'? I believe the carriage is much more recent and it never was fired. It dates back to the days of the rock projectiles so pressure wasn't as much of an issue as with metal shot. It is amazing. Something like a 36" bore.

Steve

 

[flashpanner]

REALLY,REALLY, REALLY, B I G!!!!!

 

[soggy]

and it never was fired.

:: It's little wonder that it was never fired;........ any enemy looking down the muzzle of that thing would surrender immedietly :crackup:
Soggy

 

Here's a monster that was fired, the Mons Meg. Though she fired puny stone balls weighing only 150kg, a measly 330.69 pounds.

Mons Meg, a huge 15th century cannon, reputed to be able to fire a large stone cannonball two miles. It weighs over 6 tons and was made in Mons in Belgium to be presented to the Scottish king in 1457 by the Duke of Burgundy.It was used to defend the castle against the English and then taken at a rate of 3 miles per day to be part of a siege by the River Tweed. By the mid 1500s it was restricted to firing ceremonial salutes from the ramparts. It was last fired in 1681 when the barrel burst and it was dumped until taken to the Tower of London in 1754. It was returned to Edinburgh in 1829 and, since 2001, sits on the ramparts next to St Margaret's Chapel.

Click here to read more about the "Mons Meg".

 

[Stumpkiller]

They didn't use enough powder. The balls piled up just in front of the barrel. Nice group, though.

 

[LSU TIGER]

Must have been for hunting Efalumps and the deadly Woozle. :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

 

[CrufflerSteve]

Claypipe is right about Mons Meg being more interesting. It was actually used.

From "Moscow's Tsar Cannon" by Thomas Lohr, The Artilleryman, Vol. 26, No. 2, Spring 2005:

"The cannonball belching behemoth weighs an amazing 40 tons, is 17.5 feet long with a 35-inch (890mm) barrel that several sources claim is the largest caliber in the world."

and

"..., throughout four centuries of existence, has never fired a shot."