Breech loading 1450-1550

[Matchlock]

Hi Susi and welcome here,

Thank you for your interesting input from the Zeitschrift für historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde. I have been a member of their society for 30 years and own all their volumes from 1897 thru 2010.

First, these are by no means exchangebale breeches for 'handguns' but for cannon! Portable handguns of the 15th century had small bores of ca. 12-16 mm and their breech chamber never had handles; they had no grips at all and and an overall length of only ca. 6-8 cm. Please cf. the measurements of the 1540 Passau arquebus breech chamber you cited!

Second, these seem to be exceptions to the rule. For these unregulated ages, almost anything was possible in general. As I noted though earlier in this thread, we know of other loaded breech loading cannon chambers only containing powder and wooden plug, and attached I repost my own photos of one of them. The rest of the original handle can bee seen.
Similar ones were found on the wreck of the Mary Rose, sunken in 1545, also just loaded with powder and plug.

'Nando, my dear friend, would you mind posting good images and measurements of your ca. 1440 fine cannon chamber as this is almost identical to the ones preserved in Berlin?

Best,
Michael

[fernando]

There you are
Bore about 30 mm.
Length 230 mm.
Width at base: 65 mm.
Weight: 3,135 Kg.

.. The wooden set up picture is a bonus

.

[Matchlock]

Thank you, 'Nando,

And congratulations!

Best,
Michl

[Matchlock]

Another argument for my theory that breechloading cannon chambers did not normally contain the ball:

As we can see, most of them taper and narrow towards the fore end, in order to be shoved into the barrel and tightly fit. So I think that, had they contained to ball, the latter would have been of too small caliber to match the barrel.

Any comments much welcome!

Best,
Michael

[Swordfish]

Originally Posted by fernando

There you are
Bore about 30 mm.
Length 230 mm.
Width at base: 65 mm.
Weight: 3,135 Kg.

.. The wooden set up picture is a bonus

.

Hallo,

it doesn`t matter if these are chambers of small cannons, the
interesting fact is that they were loaded with a bullet. If even
chambers of cannons were loaded in this way, surely the
chambers of small handguns, where the chamber and barrel
have exactly the same bore, were loaded with a bullet.

Best wishes

[Matchlock]

Sorry,

Do you completely ignore the evidence photos I posted?

m

[Swordfish]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

Sorry,

Do you completely ignore the evidence photos I posted?

m

I have never expressed any doubt that chambers of cannons were
loaded with a plug. I refer always to chambers of handguns.
Confused ?

[Matchlock]

Oh yes, I definitely am.

Any evidence produced?

And why, in your opinion, should breech loading of handguns differ from cannon?

m

[Matchlock]

Swordfish,

Are you there?!

m