On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:02:48 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

"Tom Miller" wrote in message
...
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!

The French made a .70-cal (roughly; it was metric) anti-tank, shoulder-fired
rifle during WWI. I suspect most shooters didn't actually put it up against
their shoulders, however. g

When I was a kid living in Maryland I used to love to go down to a couple of
museums on the Eastern Shore, where they had about a half-dozen of those
"punt guns" that were used to shoot an entire flock of ducks with one shot.
The bore varied but I remember several of them around 2" (.200 caliber) or
more, with barrels maybe 12 feet long and a regular, very fat shoulder
stock.

That would be a 2 gauge shotgun, not a .200 caliber rifle. ;-)

Strider


For years I was amazed that anyone could shoot a cannon like that until I
saw a painting of one in use. The whole punt was a sort of cannon carriage.
There was a raised V-notch at the bow end, in which the barrel rested. And
mounted to the transom was a very thick, heavily braced plank that extended
up a foot or two above the gunwales. The butt end of the stock rested
against that, while the shooter actually wrapped his arm around the
buttstock.