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hi,
can anyone help pin down this object we found in our museum stores?
Apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum - could've gone under 'hunting' (if is for whaling) or 'curios' as well I guess.
Breech-loading, rifled percussion long gun, 68 inches long with a hinged spike on the underside of the brass barrel. Turkish marks. Sorry unsure of calibre - object not to hand at moment.
The info says it was collected after the battle at El Fasher, Darfur Province, Sudan in 1916, but may have originally been obtained on the Red Sea coast and then transported 1000 miles by camel to the Sudan!
Original 1950s label also says it is a whaling gun (spike to fix it to bulwarks of a ship) but didn't think whaling guns were made of brass as it would rust. Plus I thought whaling guns mostly used harpoons (wouldn't fit in a rifled barrel?) Perhaps it is a rampart gun instead? What kind of ammunition would it have used?
Any suggestions or comments welcome. Sorry for the not-so-great photograph.
Thanks,
Helen
can anyone help pin down this object we found in our museum stores?
Apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum - could've gone under 'hunting' (if is for whaling) or 'curios' as well I guess.
Breech-loading, rifled percussion long gun, 68 inches long with a hinged spike on the underside of the brass barrel. Turkish marks. Sorry unsure of calibre - object not to hand at moment.
The info says it was collected after the battle at El Fasher, Darfur Province, Sudan in 1916, but may have originally been obtained on the Red Sea coast and then transported 1000 miles by camel to the Sudan!
Original 1950s label also says it is a whaling gun (spike to fix it to bulwarks of a ship) but didn't think whaling guns were made of brass as it would rust. Plus I thought whaling guns mostly used harpoons (wouldn't fit in a rifled barrel?) Perhaps it is a rampart gun instead? What kind of ammunition would it have used?
Any suggestions or comments welcome. Sorry for the not-so-great photograph.
Thanks,
Helen
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