Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A punt gun is a type of extremely large shotgun used in the 19th and early 20th centuries for shooting large numbers of waterfowl for commercial harvesting operations. These weapons are characteristically too large for an individual to fire from the shoulder or often carry alone, but unlike artillery pieces, punt guns are able to be aimed and fired by a single person from a mount.
With the advent of punt guns hunters could kill dozens of birds with a single blast. [6] European settlers in America hunted waterfowl with great zeal, as the supply of waterfowl seemed unlimited in the Atlantic coast. As more immigrants came to the Americas in the 19th century, the need for more food became greater.
Despite the popularity of the calibre in modern gun lore there is no evidence the 2 bore as named was actually used as a terrestrial and shoulder fired firearm. The equivalent calibre size equates to various punt guns used for harvesting large number of waterfowls usually mounted in 'punts' or flat bottomed boats for commercial purposes.
Antique firearms can be divided into two basic types: muzzle-loading and cartridge firing. Muzzleloading antique firearms are not generally owned with the intent of firing them (although original muzzleloaders can be safely fired, after having them thoroughly inspected), but instead are usually owned as display pieces or for their historic value.
The epitome of fowling was, however, the punt gunner. He had what amounted to a long, small-bore muzzle-loaded cannon. It was mounted along the centre-line of the forward half of a specially designed boat which slightly resembled a heavy wooden kayak in form. The fowler lay in the after half with paddle blades strapped to his forearms.
The term punt also refers to smaller versions of regional types of long shore work boats, such as the Deal galley punt, a square-sterned, lapstrake open-boat rigged with a single dipping lugsail, used for salvage and rescue work off a beach. In coastal communities, punt refers to any small clinker-built, open-stem, general-purpose boat. [1]
They were used to target British armored cars, as Italian forces suffered from a lack of anti-tank guns during the campaign. The Lahti L-39, a Finnish-made 20 mm caliber anti-tank gun, was nicknamed the "elephant gun" by Finnish Army troops during the Continuation War because of its stopping power, as was the British-made Boys anti-tank rifle.
M3 submachine gun: Submachine gun 655,363 [156] SA80: Assault rifle United Kingdom: 600,000 SIG SG 550: Assault rifle Switzerland: 600,000 MG 34: General-purpose machine gun Nazi Germany: 577,120 [157] Browning M1917. and M1919. Machine gun United States: 567,340 [158] [159] Tula-Korovin TK: Semi-automatic pistol Soviet Union: 500,000 [160 ...