A punt gun is a type of extremely large shotgun used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A single shot could kill over 50 waterfowl resting on the water’s surface. The hunter would maneuver the entire boat in order to aim the gun. In the United States, this practice depleted stocks of wild waterfowl and by the 1860s most states had banned the practice. “Since Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 there has been a punt gun salute every Coronation and Jubilee in Cowbit, Lincolnshire, England” - Wikipedia
