So Kead's question as to what I was interested in trying got me to thinking about my leg-stretch stop at Gander Mountain just north of Richmond on my way home Sunday afternoon. I wandered around a while and of course I had to go back and see what they have that goes "Bang!" The first two guns I saw sure got my attention, but a gentleman was standing right there being an actual customer, so I didn't get to read their labels. They were the honkin'est biggest revolvers I've ever seen. So big that I thought "I'd probably never be able to fire them but they'd make a heck of a club." I swear the barrels looked 2 ft long. Then yesterday I mused on the fact that there are calibers that would probably knock me on my butt, and wandering around Youtube turned up this:
Explaining that my shoulder is bruised because of a shotgun - not embarrassing. That my nose is bruised because of a pistol - yeah that would be embarrassing.
Then my mind took a trip on the way-back machine. Thirty-five or so years ago I read James Michner's Chesapeake. Loved it, but I never knew what the heck a punt gun was until I went to the museum in St. Michael's, MD. Ah. A punt gun is a cannon disguised as a shotgun:
I'm thinking that's probably too big for me even tied down on a boat.
Robert Ruark talked of punt guns in his classic book The Old Man and the Boy. Apparently the punt gun was used to harvest large numbers of wildfowl such as Canvasback ducks, which would be shipped to restaurants in New York City and other major metropolitan areas of the Eastern Seaboard. Because of this populations of Canvasbacks declined drastically around the beginning of the 20th century.
Read Ruark's book, if you have it available in your local library (or purchase it from Amazon), it's well worth your time. It was based on magazine articles that Ruark wrote for Field and Stream magazine in the 1950's and 1960's.
Yep, guaranteed fail, and I'll be he's sleeping on the couch for a while... Punt guns also existed down South, and you didn't shoot em from the shoulder (if you wanted to keep the shoulder that is)...
Robert Ruark talked of punt guns in his classic book The Old Man and the Boy. Apparently the punt gun was used to harvest large numbers of wildfowl such as Canvasback ducks, which would be shipped to restaurants in New York City and other major metropolitan areas of the Eastern Seaboard. Because of this populations of Canvasbacks declined drastically around the beginning of the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteRead Ruark's book, if you have it available in your local library (or purchase it from Amazon), it's well worth your time. It was based on magazine articles that Ruark wrote for Field and Stream magazine in the 1950's and 1960's.
I second Bob on Ruark. I've read The Old Man and the Boy many times. Also, try the second, The Old Man's Boy Grows Up.
ReplyDeleteJust point that Punt Gun towards DC and let 'er rip.
Bob & Stephen - Thanks for the recommendations! They'll go on my list.
ReplyDeleteAnd Stephen - Hmm. I imagine there's a few of them still in families living along the Chesapeake. Suppose they'd loan?
That video never gets old, even if it does disgust me when redneck "macho" guys set new women shooters up to fail like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd come Saturday, we'll just take it by the numbers with that Arisaka, ok?
ML - Yep. I'd prefer to end the day with no more bodily damage than when I start.
ReplyDeleteYep, guaranteed fail, and I'll be he's sleeping on the couch for a while... Punt guns also existed down South, and you didn't shoot em from the shoulder (if you wanted to keep the shoulder that is)...
ReplyDeleteI hope that the young lady had the sense to dump her boyfriend.
ReplyDelete