How big does a smoothbore cannon have to be...

[DutchmanDick]

...before it is actually considered an artillery piece rather than just a model? I know the Williams Rapid Fire cannon from the Civil War had about a 1.6" bore (and was a breechloader), but were there any other field pieces this small?

 

[DutchmanDick]

Anybody? Nobody?

 

[TheDoubleD]

I'm not sure what you are getting at, and may be others don't either. What do you mean by model?

I know a couple of guys who built a model of the 500 KG Monstre Mortar. Their 2/5 scale model fired a 130 pound 11 inch projectile.

 

[flintlock75]

Technically, the smallest official artillery is considered a 1/2 pounder. I have a small cannon, 120 lb barrel and fires a 10 oz ball, it also fires cannister with spectacular effect. Carl Gustav used leather bound cannons firing cannister shot to supliment his muskets. they fired 2 pounds of musket balls.

 

[DutchmanDick]

Technically, the smallest official artillery is considered a 1/2 pounder. I have a small cannon, 120 lb barrel and fires a 10 oz ball, it also fires cannister with spectacular effect. Carl Gustav used leather bound cannons firing cannister shot to supliment his muskets. they fired 2 pounds of musket balls.

That's the sort of info I was looking for.

What is the bore size on a 1/2 pounder? And who used them (naval, army)? And during what time period?

 

[DutchmanDick]

I'm not sure what you are getting at, and may be others don't either. What do you mean by model?

I know a couple of guys who built a model of the 500 KG Monstre Mortar. Their 2/5 scale model fired a 130 pound 11 inch projectile.

By "model", I meant pretty much anything yacht/salute cannon sized or smaller, too small to have any practical military use (i.e., you may as well be using a musket or large-bore blunderbuss, and get the same effect).

 

[flintlock75]

The average bore size of a 1/2 pounder is about 1 3/4". This size gun was used on whale boats and forts. this size was also used as a swivel gun on large vessels. Dont underestimate the power of a 1/2 pound ball, mine will hit a 55gal drum at 600 yards with only 2 deg of elevation and a 600 gr charge of cannon powder. That ball will go through a 6" thick log at 300 yards and do damage on the other side.With a load of canister(50ea .45cal balls) it will cover an area at 50 yards, 25 feet wide, on a live fire we set up military silouets 20 ea at a range of between 40 yards and 90 yards, a single charge of double canister was fired, 19 targets were hit all with more than one hit, the 20th target was farthest away and off to one side. This size gun was very portable and would be effective against a frontier block house. If your in the blockhouse a load of cannister would break up any attacking force.

 

[Kevin Makel]

Technically, the smallest official artillery is considered a 1/2 pounder. I have a small cannon, 120 lb barrel and fires a 10 oz ball, it also fires cannister with spectacular effect. Carl Gustav used leather bound cannons firing cannister shot to supliment his muskets. they fired 2 pounds of musket balls.

Could you post a pic of your cannon sometime, it sounds great, I'm in the market for something that size.

 

[Josh Smith]

You know, how about a Mountain Mortar? I don't know much about arty, but I recall this piece from some of my readings of the latter part of the States' War. Seemed pretty small and the shell burst didn't do much unless it was in an enclosed area..?

Josh

 

[flintlock75]

Small mortars were realy just grenade launchers. Many would fire a 2lb ball, very effective againt small forts, they only had a range of about 150-200 yards. The blast radious of a shell was about 25-30 feet. Small field guns were used in the civil war in the west were mobility was needed. the 1841 mountain howitzer was used in the west it was a 12 pounder smoothbore and was designed to be broken down for transport by 6 mules.Used against a simple log and earth fortification it was very effective. My gun is a scaled copy of a british 6 pounder field gun. even a 1/2 pound ball does incredible damage to log structures and with cannister to supliment muskets the amount of firepower is substantial.

 

[Joe Wolf]

Josh, I think you mean to say "mountain howitzer".

I have a 1 1/2" bore swivel gun that I also made a sort of naval carriage for.

A 3" bore mountain howitzer is what I'd like to have.

 

[AZ Muzzle]

A MH has a smooth bore at 4.625”. After 1861 most of the cannons were rifled starting with the 1861 12 Pdr Parrot Rifle and as bores became smaller they were rifled barrels.

 

[RocklockI]

This is a repoduction of a 2.5 pounder . There are many examples just like this in 1/2 lbs,1 Lbs,1 1/2bs and so on.

One use for the small guns was on ships of trade this is a VOC gun .

The but there were many "Trading companies" to the far east .
Pirates were an issue ,so the insurance companies required a certain number of guns for defence . They made the cannons small to be less weight and take up less space .

A 1/2 lber dosnt sound like much to us ,BUT in the 1660's a pirate in the far east was more likly some locals in a very small boat . Two or three vollies of shot would scare them off or worse.

They are known today as "insurance guns"

Gary