Original British Naval Boat Massive Swivel Gun by Barnett- Dated 1849 Tower Marked Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Well this really is the case of “Mine is bigger than yours!” With an overall length of 46″ inches, a barrel of just about 30″ and a bore diameter at the flared muzzle of 2 1/2″ what makes this weapon massive is it’s shear bulk. The lock screws are almost 4” long! This is a true beast and weighs over 35 pounds!

Manufactured and dated 1849 the percussion lock bears Crown over V.R. and TOWER markings. The huge wood buttstock has a wonderful Maker’s cartouche of BARNETT, GUNMAKER, LONDON stamped in an oval.

Brass mounts and complete with original steel ramrod this Swivel Gun still retains the huge Oarlock type mount that fitted into the Ship’s rail or was mounted on a boarding craft/long boat. The flared muzzle to the barrel although making the appearance of being a Blunderbuss was for ease of loading grapeshot etc. The cruel truth is that flaring a barrel does not assist in shot spread, that occurs anyway or all shotguns today would have blunderbuss barrels. The true purpose of the gaping mouth of a blunderbuss was to instill dread into the intended victim.

This is just about the very last British Boat Gun Model of the romantic seafaring age of fighting Pirates and Privateers. Kept in the Ship’s Armory these massive Boat Guns were issued only to repel Boarders or as portable Cannons for use by Boarding Parties.

Extremely rare, especially being manufactured in Percussion and with such a late date, and exactly the type of weapon the British would have used had they entered the American Civil War as the British so nearly did.