A Rare Wallgun Barrel, ca. 1525-30, Excavated in Belarus, White Russia

[Matchlock]

I owe this thread to the helpfulness and kindness of our member and my friend Alexender (Spiridonov). Thank you so much, Alexender, this is a really remarkable find!

It is the wrought-iron, two-stage barrel of a long and heavy wall gun, ca. 1525-30, with an exceptional length of ca. 160 cm! It is of round section throughout, with the long, slightly swamped muzzle section accentuated by filed moldings. This barrel features the earliest stage of development of a removable, threaded tang, a small igniting pan on the right-hand side (damaged, the swiveling cover missing), and it is fully sighted: above the breech, two basal 'feet' can still be seen on which there was originally placed a long tubular rear sight, and there is a blade foresight.
On the underside there are three loops for the stock pins.
Overall length: 1.60 cm! The complete gun must have been about two meters long!

I'd like to point out a very similar, contemporary but completey preserved gun although its barrel is octagonal to round and three-staged: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...inderlock+1525

Also, Alexender took and posted photos of similar guns in the Artillery Museum St. Petersburg:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...seum+artillery

I repeated a few of them here.


Best,
Michael