Origin of the powderhorn?

[Trooper]

I’ve been searching for any articles about the origin of the powderhorn and I can’t seem to find any literature on the subject. Does anyone here know where I can find articles on this?

 

[user 48679]

AFAIK, their use came into being in the early 1400's.

Ya might hafta sharpen yer google-fu skills a tad....

Google " the first powder horn made for muzzleloading guns "

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

There are medieval paintings showing little soldier guys running around with powder horns.

 

[Trooper]

AFAIK, their use came into being in the early 1400's.

Ya might hafta sharpen yer google-fu skills a tad....

Google " the first powder horn made for muzzleloading guns "

Ya, ‘puters and I are like oil and water.. I much prefer smoke signalling

 

[andy52]

I'm just throwing this out there, just shortly after black powder weapon were invented. The use of horn is way older.

 

[tenngun]

Horn has been a container older then civilization

 

[Surfinator58]

If memory serves the first one was removed from the top of a male bovine many years ago teehee

 

[Grenadier1758]

The horn as a container goes back well before horns were used to hold black powder. In the earliest records the term powder horn was probably not used. The earliest French name for a powder container was pulverin. Pulverins were made of horn or wood as the builder desired.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I’ve been searching for any articles about the origin of the powderhorn and I can’t seem to find any literature on the subject. Does anyone here know where I can find articles on this?

The George C. Neumann collection at Valley Forge PA has an Italian powder flask made from horn (iirc) dated to between 1550 and 1600. Horn alone as the container really seems to be from the American Colonies, while flasks of metal and/or metal and wood seem to have been the norm in Europe prior to the F&I.

LD

 

[user 33882]

They used horns in Europe long before the American Revolution. Take a look at the flat powder horns with spanners for wheellock rifles that date much earlier.

 

[tenngun]

The George C. Neumann collection at Valley Forge PA has an Italian powder flask made from horn (iirc) dated to between 1550 and 1600. Horn alone as the container really seems to be from the American Colonies, while flasks of metal and/or metal and wood seem to have been the norm in Europe prior to the F&I.

LD

Cannoniers carried them and used on ships. Did the idea spread to Europe from America?
How bouts that?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Cannoniers carried them and used on ships. Did the idea spread to Europe from America?
How bouts that?

Not sure though if those were actual "horns", or were flasks made with horn panels as were some lanterns when not made with glass, OR were those the European flasks made of metal and wood ...???

LD

 

[French Colonial]

This is off the internet, as others have stated, horns have been around for a long time.

 

[tenngun]

Not sure though if those were actual "horns", or were flasks made with horn panels as were some lanterns when not made with glass, OR were those the European flasks made of metal and wood ...???

LD

This is from Nelson’s time

 

[Daveboone]

As someone else mentioned, the use of cow horns for receptacles goes back to the stone age. It was simply a natural use. Horn was used for drinking, salt, collecting, as well as being carved into common implements. I think that it is fascinating that even to this day there isnt any real improvement in use of other matereals.