Russian experimental howitzer of 1722-nice pix
 

Pix found by Steven H. Smith. You are welcome to convert the links to real pictures, of course. I'm just relaying them "as found."


Found by Steven H. Smith:

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3 lb experimental gun. Caliber 80 x 230 mm; length 156 cm; weight 492 kg. Cast 1722 in Olonitz. Carriage 2nd half 18th century.


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Is there any info behind why they were trying a barrel of this shape? What the hoped for advantages were?

I'm no artillery buff, but I think that the projectiles it fired were not rectangular, but round, arranged in a horizontal row, perhaps in a rectangular sabbot.

Are you addressing anyone in particular, John ? :confused:
Why don't You feel free to welcome yourself to do such conversion ?
It sure is a kind but also regular procedure ;) :cool:

Lethal Frisbees ? :eek:
They would need to have spin introduced for accuracy I would think . :shrug:

Maybe case shot made up of flechettes for antipersonnel use ? :confused:

Sure is interesting....did the link now gone share anything about the museum this sits in?

I guess not :shrug:


http://www.napoleon-series.org/cgi-b...read;id=132725

The details
 

Crickeys!! A whole lot of nothing!!!

It seems the Russians had an awesome array of unusual cannons!

Perhaps it is kept here;

http://artillery-museum.ru/en/schema-1.html

An extract from the link;

In the second half of the 18th century the history of Russian artillery is characterized with working out many experimental patterns for artillery guns that were offered for adoption in the army. Russian scientists-*artillerists tried to solve problems of increasing the firing rate and fire power of guns. An imteresting sample of such systems is the 3‑pounder experimental cast*-iron cannon with a rectangular barrel bore cast in Olonets in 1722. It was intended for firing three 3‑pound balls, which were wrapped round with linen and placed in one row on a wooden tray.

Cool stuff :cool:

Who ever provided these images, I'd love to see the rest of the museum in this detail.....

I've got a book titled Artillery of Peter the Great, will check it after I get back home.
Off the cuff - Russian artillery was quite renown in Europe in the 18th-19th c. for its efficiency and innovations

Some extremely early swivel cannons mounted to the rails had barrels exactly like this shape- See Gilkerson's 'Boarders Away 2', pg 47, which fired 'hail-shot', the first form of schrapnel of its kind. It fired odd block-like shot that was stacked like bricks. I'm assumiing it was swapped in come sort of carcass.

The museum is the Museum of Artillery, Engineers, and Signal Troops in St. Petersburg, Russia. If you have never been to this website which has hundreds of photos of things most of us have never seen before, say goodbye to whatever other things you had planned for today and enjoy it.

http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rusarmy/...eum/arttbl.htm