Question about this weapon

[MikeyB]

Hi everyone,
I realize this is off topic, so I hope the moderator will indulge me. Can anyone identify the weapon in the attached screenshot? Its from the Last of the Mohicans and I could never figure out what it was. Given I've never seen it anywhere else, I'm guessing it was not a very successful weapon.


Thanks for any help!
mike

 

[ikesdad]

Looks like a blunderbus to me

 

[UCVRelics]

It a British Hand Cannon aka grenade launcher, hand motar. After priming the firearm and adding the gunpowder, the shooter would light a grenade fuse, place the grenade in the muzzle of the mortar, then fire it at the enemy. However, accidents could occur if the weapon misfired and the lit grenade remained in the barrel. Additional modifications attempted to light the grenade using the burning gunpowder, but accounts say that the fuse would be forced into the grenade which would explode immediately

 

[ikesdad]

Evidently it was an early version of the M79.......

 

[Patrick H]

Well...there you have it!

 

[UCVRelics]

Ive fired a thump gun many times but having to light the fuse on a grenade and drop it in the barrel and count One Mississippi, two Mississippi doesn't work for me.

 

[Story]

For those so inclined, https://www.wideopenspaces.com/building-flintlock-musket-grenade-launcher/

Parts here http://www.therifleshoppe.com/catalog_pages/hand_mortar/hand_mortar_(819).htm

Or an Indian produced reproduction
http://veteranarms.com/ReproductionMuzzleloadersandFlintlocks/Hand-Mortar.html

https://piratefashions.com/products/pirate-hand-mortar

 

[John Winn]

I'm sure the way it worked was that Sergeant Jones summoned private Smith to come forward with his weapon. Sergeant Jones then ordered private Smith to charge his weapon. Once charged, Sergeant Jones inserted a grenade, lit the fuse, retreated twenty paces, and ordered private Smith to "fire at will."

 

[JOHN42768]

Not exactly an OSHA approved weapon

 

[MikeyB]

It a British Hand Cannon aka grenade launcher, hand motar. After priming the firearm and adding the gunpowder, the shooter would light a grenade fuse, place the grenade in the muzzle of the mortar, then fire it at the enemy. However, accidents could occur if the weapon misfired and the lit grenade remained in the barrel. Additional modifications attempted to light the grenade using the burning gunpowder, but accounts say that the fuse would be forced into the grenade which would explode immediately
View attachment 261916

Thanks for the reply! So I'm guessing these weapons went out of service relatively quickly. Would this soldier be considered a grenadier? Or did grenadiers only throw their grenades?

Just as an aside, how many grenades could a grenadier carry into battle? Ten? Fifteen? If this is right, how were these guys viable soldiers when they would be out of ammunition in about 10 seconds?

I'm assuming rifled muskets made these guys obsolete given range constraints, but were grenades used in the Civil War era? Maybe while on the defensive behind entrenchments?

 

[Carronade]

I saw a Hand Cannon in a museum years ago, I think in England, and also an under-barrel grenade launcher attachment on a musket, like today's M203. Plus ca change......

 

[Batty67]

I'm embarrassed to mention this as a former National Guard field artillery officer, but my brother and I used to drop a lit firecracker into a tube and then a lit "smoke" bomb and shoot the bomb, if timed perfectly it was lit and smoking enroute, and watch it shoot like a mortar. So deeply stupid...but fun.

 

[Larryh86GT]

I'm embarrassed to mention this as a former National Guard field artillery officer, but my brother and I used to drop a lit firecracker into a tube and then a lit "smoke" bomb and shoot the bomb, if timed perfectly it was lit and smoking enroute, and watch it shoot like a mortar. So deeply stupid...but fun.

Kinda like my brother and I shooting stuff out of our hands with our BB guns. As you say, stupid but fun.

 

[bibskinner]

It a British Hand Cannon aka grenade launcher, hand motar. After priming the firearm and adding the gunpowder, the shooter would light a grenade fuse, place the grenade in the muzzle of the mortar, then fire it at the enemy. However, accidents could occur if the weapon misfired and the lit grenade remained in the barrel. Additional modifications attempted to light the grenade using the burning gunpowder, but accounts say that the fuse would be forced into the grenade which would explode immediately
View attachment 261916

A naval line throwing gun ???

 

[UCVRelics]

A naval line throwing gun ???

Nope, Its a British Hand Cannon thats was used to launch grenades or mortars.

 

[chitoryu12]

I'm embarrassed to mention this as a former National Guard field artillery officer, but my brother and I used to drop a lit firecracker into a tube and then a lit "smoke" bomb and shoot the bomb, if timed perfectly it was lit and smoking enroute, and watch it shoot like a mortar. So deeply stupid...but fun.

Sounds like you just started your career early.