aardvarkrh
Inactive
Haven't actually seen this, but a friend told me her uncle has a very old Chinese flintlock with a square barrel/bore. Anybody know about this?
Thx aard
Thx aard
Square barrelled rifle
- Thread starter aardvarkrh
- Start date
armoredman
New member
Does the bore rotate, to give a spin, or is it one long straight square? Centuries ago crossbow qarrels were made with round heads for use against Christians, and a square one for use agains Muslims during the Crusades, IIRC, wonder if that has anything to do with it, which would mean it is either a copy made much later, or a musket that has a HECK of a history to it.
My $.02, worth what you paid for it.
My $.02, worth what you paid for it.
Last edited:
armoredman
New member
That's about all I remember from that, sorry.
Goes further than that.
There were volley guns (multiple barreled BP guns where the barrels all fired together, kind of an early machine gun attempt) where the racks of barrels & ammuntion was the same, round for christian & square for Muslim targets.
I don't remember the brand model & so on but it looked like a cannon carridge with a row (or two) of barrels all laid side by side & the whole setup was breech loaded on a seperate trailer & the loaded barrels dropped into the waiting carridge/breech for firing.
There were volley guns (multiple barreled BP guns where the barrels all fired together, kind of an early machine gun attempt) where the racks of barrels & ammuntion was the same, round for christian & square for Muslim targets.
I don't remember the brand model & so on but it looked like a cannon carridge with a row (or two) of barrels all laid side by side & the whole setup was breech loaded on a seperate trailer & the loaded barrels dropped into the waiting carridge/breech for firing.
Mike Irwin
Staff
I've never heard that about crossbow bolts, but the Puckle Gun, an early manual revolving "machine gun," did have round and square barrels and chambers - round for Christians and square for Turks (a common name for Muslims).
"Round for Christians, square for Turks."
That was the clue that the Googles needed. Square bullets, I guess like square arrows, make a god-awful mess of your insides when they hit at high velocity. Kinda gruesome, but I guess the deal was that the round bullet makes a clean wound (as clean as a large caliber projectile would, anyway), but the square one tumbles around and just rips the crap out of whatever it hits, resulting in agonizing pain and, I suppose, a horrendous death.
Such were the times.
That was the clue that the Googles needed. Square bullets, I guess like square arrows, make a god-awful mess of your insides when they hit at high velocity. Kinda gruesome, but I guess the deal was that the round bullet makes a clean wound (as clean as a large caliber projectile would, anyway), but the square one tumbles around and just rips the crap out of whatever it hits, resulting in agonizing pain and, I suppose, a horrendous death.
Such were the times.