Before the Ball: Clod Shot of 1375 - the Earliest Lead Gun Ammunition!

[Marcus den toom]

Hi Batjka,

We all are shocked by the loss of our dear friend Michael, the knowledge he provided was always of high quality and insight.

I think you have mixed up his explanation on post 1 and 22. Post one depicts a tillered handgun with multiple touch holes and thus the need for igniting every single shot seperatly.

Post 22 depicts a tillered handgun where there is no touch hole. The shots are fired by igniting the first load on top which travels trough the pieces of clodshot (lead bar shot) and thus firing in rapid succesion all of the inserted pieces.

I hope this explains Michael his posts a bit more.

[batjka]

I was referring to Matchlock's post #10 that in turn refers to the depiction in the post #1.

Post #22 talks about a different depiction which corresponds to the theory he had described.

Still, a question remains, how were the gunners able to load the superimposed loads as to ensure that the touch holes line up with the powder charges. One version is that they had used a ramrod with markings that indicate where each projectile must end up in relation to the muzzle. I had offered another explanation, supported by the depiction in the post #1 - depth probe was inserted through the hole in the projectile and when it touched the front of the projectile below, that's when the gunner knew it's all in the proper position. This makes a lot more sense than to try to tap it from the front, where an accidental extra hit could throw the whole sequence off. The left man on the photo in the post #1 clearly has this "probe" inserted through the projectile ready to load it into the barrel.

[Marcus den toom]

Hi Batjka,

In my previous post i forgot to mention that eventhough the gun in post 1 has more than one touch hole, this would not always mean that every shot where to be ignited seperately. This would not make sense either because we can clearly see the holes in the clodshot. Combined with the knowledge that early gunpowder was indeed fine dust like powder, it is to be expected that the holes filled up automatically when the next load was put in. This makes a chain reaction from the top possible.

As to how the pieces where inserted, i still believe they had to be hammered in to some extend. Medieval barrels where far from smooth and if such a piece of clodshot would just slide in the gas loss would have been enormous.
And maybe they did use some sort of measurment stick to determine if the powder plus shot was fitting in between the two touch holes.

Within this theory it is possible to shoot 1 or 2 or up to 5 shots (post 1 illustration). I don't know of any gun that has multiple touch holes like this, nor of a loaded gun with more than 1 piece of clodshot. Michl had a tillered hand cannon which held 1 shot and a large load of powder. Other than that there are few examples of surviving loaded hand cannons, at least not known to me .

[Marcus den toom]

Kufstein clodshot

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...558#post190558

[Marcus den toom]

Reviving this thread with this 7cm piece of clodshot. Lead with a stone cast together.
Found at the North sea near Northumberland.

[Andi]

Cool - is it yours?

[Marcus den toom]

Yes it is, just like this 4cm one from the same source.