Trivia: What is this gun?

[Jim Diver]

I'll post the answer later...

 

[AirForceShooter]

Fugly

Afs

 

[David N]

I don't know and I can't wait to hear the answer.

Dave

 

[Dead]

Something for hunting whales?? Line thrower?

 

[72Rover]

Strange gun

Don't know if it actually has a name, but it is used for shooting lines between ships for rigging up a breeches bouy. Not quite the same as a "Lyle Gun" which would have been used by shore-based rescure personnel to fire a line out to a stranded vessel.

BTW, a Lyle Gun has the exact same bore as a tennis ball....

Cheers

 

[TMM]

breachloading somthin' for other with a really big bore with an even bigger chamber....

i want one. it would be an SBR though... goddamn ATF....

~TMM

 

[Eightball]

It looks like it would be a shot which draws line behind it (look at the shell in the forefront of the picture). Some kinda harpoon gun/lyle gun is my guess. Other than that.........ultimate SHTF shotgun

 

[M67]

Harpoon gun for whaling.

More specifically, it's a Cunningham & Cogan shoulder gun, patented in 1877 by Herbert W. Chapman of Newark, New Jersey.

 

[LynnMassGuy]

Wow! How the heck did you know that?

 

[M67]

I'm Norwegian. We still eat whale here. Besides, I know it all.

Actually, I guessed that it was a 19th century whale gun and did an internet searh. I found a picture of this very gun in less than five minutes - I use the 'net in my work and have gotten quite good at searching for stuff.

Edit: Hey Jim, you never mentioned a prize. What did I win?

 

[Azrael256]

I guessed that it was a 19th century whale gun

My first thought was one of those tear gas or flare launcher jobbies. It looks a whole lot like them. I guess the rigging in the background should have been a clue. I'll go back to my corner now.

 

[Mal H]

I think it's called a "Darting gun" and it was produced around 1878 in New Bedford, NJ, not Newark. I believe that particular model is on display in an Alaska museum.



I read the blurb on the wall (#2).

 

[GunGoBoom]

[Homer voice] Mmmmmm, whales....and soylent green. [/HV]

 

[Jim Diver]

The answer:

This is a shoulder gun for whaling. It weighs 27 pounds and fires an exploding projectile called a bomb lance. The recoil from these guns was so severe that they sometimes broke collar bones. Such guns had to be tied to the boat to avoid losing them overboard. Patented in 1877 by H.W. Chapman and sold as the Cunningham and Cogan Bomb gun, this particular gun was used by the Alaska Oil and Guano Company at Killisnoo, near Angoon, on Admiralty Island.

Congrats to those with the correct answer.

 

[Slimjim]

Is it that gun al pacino...wait..NM.