Posted on 11/22/2018 9:45:19 AM PST by PROCON
Photo: NRA Museum
What’s even more American than turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie these days? An Italian gun, that’s what. The only known surviving firearm that crossed the wild Atlantic aboard the good ship Mayflower, settled with the pilgrims at Plymouth Colony and ultimately helped the first colonists not only survive, but prosper. Meet the Mayflower Gun.
Affectionately dubbed the Mayflower Gun and thought of as an American icon, the gun is actually an Italian-made wheel-lock carbine. This single-shot musket was originally chambered in .50 caliber rifle, though ages of heavy use have worn away the majority of the rifling. Given the combination of natural wear, repairs and modifications, if the gun were to be loaded and fired today, it would require a .66 caliber.
Photo: NRA Museum
According to curators at the NRA’s National Firearms Museum—where the gun has found a most comfortable home—markings recorded on both the barrel and lockplate demonstrate a connection with the Beretta family of armorers.
One of the features making this musket instantly recognizable is its namesake. The surviving detail of the actual wheel-lock device—the rotating mechanism, which provides spark and ignition, not unlike that of our modern day cigarette lighters—is a thing of fine craftsmanship and beauty. The wheel-lock’s engineering, execution and efficacy far exceed those of its predecessor, the matchlock.
(Excerpt) Read more at guns.com ...
Did liberals take away their guns? That’s supposed to end the carnage.
Ping
Looks like an assault rifle to me.
Only someone with bad intentions would want to own a 50 caliber rifle.
Would that have been what they referred to as a “fouling piece”?
Fowling... given you name, don’t get too close to one.
Yea, sorry about the misspelling. I meant fowl.
A fowling piece was a long barreled smoothbore gun intended for bird hunting; it was the forerunner of the shotgun. Late in the 18th century the first double barrel fowling pieces were devised; the ancestors of the double breechloading shotgun.
The blunderbuss’ bell muzzle was intimidating & nothing else. The shot pattern when fired was the same size as the bore. Taper choking of shotguns was later invented in the 19th century.
Interesting thread. Thanks.
Those must've been water-cooled longbowmen. /s
LOL! Can you imagine though? Geez. A lot of pin cushions left out on there.
I wonder what the hell that sounded like..all the arrows going through the air.
BTW. They shot the horses and when the knights were on the ground, the swordsmen went to work.
They arrived in November and likely did not bring adequate food supplies with them for the winter.
In these hard and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soon quelled and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just and equal carriage of things by the Governor and better part, which clave faithfully together in the main. But that which was most sad and lamentable was that in two or three months’ time half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting [lacking] houses and other comforts; being infected with the scurvy and other diseases, which this long voyage and their inaccomodate condition had brought upon them, so as there died sometimes two or three of a day, in the aforesaid time, that of one hundred and odd persons, scarce fifty remained.
... and then someone modified it so it was ~16 gauge rifled bbl shotgun! Lol
True about the wheel-lock, although there were other kinds of firearms, too.
Tenuously related but already in the thread, I see some of the recirculating Internet canards about Plymouth Colony—propaganda written by jealous descendants of much more recent U.S. arrivals. It would do many of you well to read for yourselves instead of trusting the myths we’ve seen in propaganda essays (claims that our English ancestors were commies, etc.).
The founding families of our American culture were truly great, and they did prevail in establishing our culture. Otherwise, we’d be speaking Spanish or Italian instead of English, and we’d be as far towards cultural devolution as our European allies.
Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony)
You’re right! Only 47 of the Mayflower colonists survived rough storms while crossing the sea, diseases from the ship, scurvy, winter after arrival and more. They stayed close to each other for several good reasons while working on land, one of which was defense against Indian attacks. Years before they arrived, Thomas Hunt, for one, had already made the Indians mad.
Only about 25 years later, the Maunder Minimum began (another target of crazy Internet revisionism). The settlers’ families and others who arrived soon after to join them did very well under the circumtances.
Thomas Hunt was a slaver, by the way. He kidnapped some Indians to sell them after returning to the other side of the Atlantic.
You flunked history. Columbus discovered the new world in 1492; the pilgrims landed in 1620 or thereabouts. You were only off by 128 years
And I did post a correction.
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