The BIGGEST Bore Rifle????

[Scota4570]

I retire in 7-years. At that point I WILL leave. Possibly sooner finances permitting. Right now it looks like Idaho, possibly McCall, Cascade, or Boise. We looked at the Texas hill country but the heat, rattle snakes, and nasty bugs did not appeal.

California had become a socialist nightmare. Anyone with money is being squeezed. Illegals and the welfare class are getting more and more. Hunting and fishing are being made impossible. Shooting sports are being attacked. Basically anything wholesome and American is being destroyed. The socalists in charge are attempting to create a communist utopian society. They will run out of money and fail, but they will try for now.

It is sad, I have watched the implosion of California in my lifetime. My ancestors settled in the area where I live in the 1860's. Now I must leave that behind and move on.

 

[cable]

me ! bought one at an auction for 100$

never shot it. sold it for a bit a profit at a gun show years later.

 

[satx78247]

ID is TOO COLD to suit me.
(In point of fact, when my 96YO mother passes away, I'm retiring to a Central American nation, where I can live REALLY WELL on my Army pension.)

NOTE 1: There are at least SIX nations south of the border and FOUR in Asia that are ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING military retirees to come to stay forever, by offering NO TAXES, CUT-RATE or FREE medical/dental benefits and other "goodies", if you're over 60YO. = I'm looking forward to being a PENSIONADO.
(All 10 have a "typical American middle-class" cost of living of LESS than 2,000USD a month.)

NOTE 2: One of the nations found out that my lady is "on wheels" and tells me that I can get QUALITY 24/365 nursing care for "Duckie" for 6-700.oo a MONTH.

BEST WISHES, satx

 

[GBG]

Discussing "The Colonel Mayes", a 19 pound, Irish-made, SxS 8-bore percussion double-rifle (on another thread) "got me to wondering" about what was the BIGGEST conventional sporting rifle ever built/used for African or Asian big-game hunting and what the "usual load" for such a "shoulder-fired cannon" was.

http://www.whalecraft.net/Shoulder_Gun_Irons.html
"Shoulder-Gun Harpoons
In an effort to solve the problem of approaching a whale close enough to dart a harpoon into it, especially in the ice of the Arctic whale fisheries, it was thought that a harpoon fired from a gun would be the answer. There were may trials with a large swivel gun mounted in the bow of the whaleboat, but excessive recoil transmitted to the light-weight boat proved to be a problem. Therefore, a shoulder gun to fire a harpoon was tried. These harpoons had to be a light weight to reduce the recoil of the gun to a point where it could be endured by the man firing the gun. This proved to be a harpoon of approximately 3 lbs."

 

[GBG]

http://www.whalecraft.net/Shoulder_Gun_Irons.html
`Some shoulder gun harpoons and bombs could only be used in one particular gun, such as the Robert Brown gun and harpoon. These are presented with the gun in which they were used (see the page for Shoulder Guns for these irons).

"The maximum weight of a projectile that could be effectively fired from a shoulder gun, with bearable recoil, was approximately three lbs. The recoil was nevertheless excessive for a shoulder gun. In 1887 James Templeman Brown, in "The Whale Fishery," said of this recoil:

...the gunner was kicked as far aft as 'midships, and it was found necessary then, even as it is now [1887], to tie the gun to the boat with a lanyard in order that it could be regained when it was "hoisted overboard." The recoil of the old shoulder-guns was immense. I have heard of two men who had their collar bones broken by a heavy gun."

 

[Heelerau]

The great 19th century hunter and explorer sir Samuel White Baker, who was about 6'8'' and 32 stone, all muscle, used a two bore, using about 12 drachms of powder behind a 1/2lb pound ball. The rifle, "Baby" only weighed in at 20 Lbs and was a bit light, as the recoil was brutal. He one blew up a cape buffalo using a 1/2lb explosive conical shell from this rifle. The recoil would spin him about !!

Cheers

Heelerau

 

[galamb]

For those of you who figure a 2 bore is still a little on the "small side", do a google search for "punt gun".

These were used for commercial hunting up into the very early 1900's.

I read one account where a single shot took down 50 ducks. While some were mounted on boats, there are more than a few examples of shoulder held arms - usually with a helper that was used to rest the barrel, about half the distance between bore and muzzle, on their shoulder so the gun could be fired...

 

[jonboyb]

Steve1122 and I got the pleasure of handling a 2 bore this past weekend....it's quite rediculous. Steve is the model in the photos :haha: Guy also had an 8 bore but that's just boring compared to this one. 3200 grain bullet so we were told. Sub-20 lbs too....I bet it packs a whallop!!!

 

[satx78247]

"THE JACKMAN", a 2.5" bore 13' long punt-gun was seized during WWII by MD State Rangers, while all the Jackman men were "away with the forces".
(One of the Jackman women was reportedly BRIBED to tell where the big gun was hidden away. - Eastern Shore watermen say that she was "shunned by the family" & "roundly despised by the families of The Shore" for "giving up our gun", to the point that she "left the state, never to return".)

According to the official MD state records, "The JACKMAN" (MD punt-guns were always named for the family that reportedly first owned them.) "accounted for well over 600,000 ducks & geese over an 80 period of use".

Note: "THE JACKMAN" was (at least 5 years ago) displayed at THE AMERICAN HISTORY MUSEUM in DC, with other "big guns".

yours, satx

 

[galamb]

Is this a "Texas Squirrel Round"?? - I heard everything is bigger in Texas

 

[jonboyb]

Why yes it is....it cuts the tree out from under the squirrel and it falls to its death :haha:

 

[steve free]

I really felt the urge to say, "Say hello to my little friend!"

 

[RedFeather]

Do stand clear of the muzzle. Don't want to get hit by the train when it comes out of the tunnel.

Yep, there have been some monster punt guns here on the Chesapeake but I don't think they were ever rifled.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Is this a "Texas Squirrel Round"?? - I heard everything is bigger in Texas

You betch'a Red Ryder...onliest problem is those daft limb chickens catch those things and chunk'em back! Sure smarts if they get a good lob on yah! :wink: :rotf:

 

[Bear Rider]

Back in the 1980's, a retired local machinist supplemented his income by producing cartridge cases for the old black powder elephant rifles in 2 and 4 bores. He would bring the rifles up the range to fire form the cases. Being no fool, he would let the young, dumb, "macho" shooters try their hand.

I watched. :grin:

I helped him once with a 4-bore muzzle loading rifle that he was test-firing (it was his introduction to muzzle loaders) He gave me one of the slugs, which is still rattling around somewhere in one of my gun boxes. I never weighed it, but from its shape, it weighed at least 5 ounces.

 

[Heelerau]

My 1/3 scale 32lb cannon fires a ball about that size, with an ounce of FFg. The recoil is enormous and the damn thing weighs over 70 lbs, imagine firing such from the shoulder with a rifle weighing only 20 lbs !!!

 

[satx78247]

Punt-guns were NEVER rifled, as far as I can tell from my research.
(I'm planning on building one for "tidal zone waterfowl hunting" in the Central American country that I'm retiring to, so I've been looking into the various designs.)

The LARGEST of the Chesapeake punt-guns (at least that I've discovered so far) was a gunning skiff-mounted FOUR inch bore that weighed about 150 pounds, named EMERSON.
(The "final resting place" of the EMERSON is unknown, as the skiff/punt gun & the shooter, Clyde Charles Emerson, "disappeared without a trace" during a "sudden appearing storm out on The Bay" in December 1911, according to a brief comment in THE BALTIMORE SUN.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

Note: The EMERSON was built, according to THE BALTIMORE SUN at Harve de Grace, MD about 1825.

yours, satx