The Composite Gun

As you have certainly noticed, this museum has a whole lot of guns on display. From the small, anti-personnel guns from Zuytdorp to the solitary example of Trial’s armament. They are all single piece, single cast weapons with their own stories to tell. However, the gun in this cabinet, with a slice taken out to reveal the structure, has a unique story. This is a composite gun, one which is made up of many components. 

Gun founding is a major, industrial process. The manufacturer needs a factory and a team trained in moulding, furnace operation and metallurgy. Whoever made this weapon clearly had a workshop but lacked the heavy equipment for founding metals such as bronze and iron. This composite gun was made from a copper tube, hooped with iron, with the trunnions (supports) attached, and then joined together within a lead-filled casing. The end result is a very interesting product, but the gun surely could not have been fired with a charge as powerful as that of a conventional cannon. In the end you have to ask yourself, ‘Was it worth all the trouble?’