World's Largest Shotgun (with Video Demonstration)

[Death Pony]

I saw an old one of those things in Warwick, England. Pretty impressive. What would happen if you fired that thing in a row boat?

 

[guppy]

As a duck hunter I'm kind of familiar with them. Weren't they just used to shoot at large groups of ducks swimming on the surface? And you've hunted with them!? What year were they banned for the use of hunting?

We used it once, illegally. As far as I know they were banned in the 1890s. To use it you aim the boat at a flock of ducks on the surface. Ours was a 6' long matchlock with a horizonatly flattened bore. If I remember right it was loaded with 4 oz of single F powder and 1 lb of #4 shot. My friend was sculling the boat and touched off the powder, I was straddling the barrel and lining up the shot. I had two rope handles nailed to the gunnels to hang onto but..., when the thing went off the punt zipped back least ten yards, I did not. Instead I had a bit of a "cartoon moment", I was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and had just time to realize I was No longer above the boat before hitting the water. I was still holding the rope handles. Tore up my hands and bruised both knees pretty good. Please remember that I was 16 at the time. It was pretty funny though.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Lol, Guppy that had to be one heck of a sight!