this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
140 points (96.7% liked)

HistoryPorn

4917 readers
71 users here now

If you would like to become a mod in this community, kindly PM the mod.

Relive the Past in Jaw-Dropping Detail!

HistoryPorn is for photographs (or, if it can be found, film) of the past, recent or distant! Give us a little snapshot of history!

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.
  9. No genocide or atrocity denialism.

Pictures of old artifacts and museum pieces should go to History Artifacts

Illustrations and paintings should go to History Drawings

Related Communities:

Military Porn

Forgotten Weapons

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
PugJesus@lemmy.world
PugJesus@kbin.social
140
Punt gun for mass-hunting waterfowl in a, uh, punt, Britain, 1900-1912 (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/historyporn@lemmy.world
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] SpicyLizards@reddthat.com 21 points 11 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun?wprov=sfla1

Punt guns were usually custom-designed and varied widely, but could have bore diameters exceeding 2 inches (51 mm) and fire over a pound (โ‰ˆ 0.45 kg) of shot at a time. A single shot could kill over 50 waterfowl resting on the water's surface. They were too big to hold and the recoil was so large that they had to be mounted directly on punts used for hunting, hence their name. Hunters would manoeuvre their punts quietly into line and range of the flock using poles or oars to avoid startling them. Generally, the gun was fixed to the punt; thus the hunter would manoeuvre the entire boat in order to aim the gun. The guns were sufficiently powerful, and the punts sufficiently small, that firing the gun often propelled the punt backwards several inches or more. To improve efficiency, hunters could work in fleets of up to around ten punts.