On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 04:04:15 GMT, Gunner
said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:20:23 +1000, "Tom Miller"
wrote:

70 caliber! What the hell is that? That's nearly 18 mm. It would kick you
into the middle of next week to fire it. That's just a cannon with a stock!

Its the evil assault weapon known as the Brown Bess.

http://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT.../01_WpBess.htm
http://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT...s.htm#pictures

And the folks in those days tended to be around 5' 6" tall.

(black powder firearms hardly kick)


Yup, it's more like a sudden shove. Black powder takes longer to burn
than modern powders. A cannon with 2-3 pounds of powder is a whole
differnt matter.

n.