Big Gun on Malta

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Geof
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Fort Rinella, Malta, contains one of two surviving Armstrong 100-ton guns.
The main attraction of the fort is the impressive 11-metre long gun built in Newcastle by Sir William George Armstrong, only two survive.
It was the world’s largest muzzle-loading cannon ever to be built, powered by hydraulics and capable of shooting a one-ton shell every six minutes. Its range was also incredible, being able to hit targets at a maximum distance of eight miles.

big gun by geof worrall, on Flickr
 
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The gunners must have been very good to get one shot off every 6 minutes
 
I've been there myself. The barrel had a maximum life of 100 rounds, but was never fired an anger. They fire it once a year with a small load of powder to commemorate those that have died in world wars.
Malta is a fascinating Island packed with history and great places to visit.
I would have gone back for the 7th time this year but for covid.
 
I've been there myself. The barrel had a maximum life of 100 rounds, but was never fired an anger. They fire it once a year with a small load of powder to commemorate those that have died in world wars.
Malta is a fascinating Island packed with history and great places to visit.
I would have gone back for the 7th time this year but for covid.
So basically a blast from the past ! :D
 
The gunners must have been very good to get one shot off every 6 minutes

There’s an excellent video on YouTube explaining about this gun on a channel called Forgotten Weapons which can be found here

View: https://youtu.be/aKmi0PN7LxM


Essentially it had 2 sets of magazines and loading equipment, one at each side, so one side would load it, then fire then it would swing the other way to be loaded by the second team essentially halving the amount of time taken to complete the full procedure :)
 
There’s an excellent video on YouTube explaining about this gun on a channel called Forgotten Weapons which can be found here

View: https://youtu.be/aKmi0PN7LxM


Essentially it had 2 sets of magazines and loading equipment, one at each side, so one side would load it, then fire then it would swing the other way to be loaded by the second team essentially halving the amount of time taken to complete the full procedure :)

Ian McCollum's series is fascinating if you're interested in historic weapons. I've spend far too many hours watching it...:D
 
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Ian McCollum's series is fascinating if you're interested in historic weapons. I've spend far too many hours watching it...:D

I’m the same! His videos are brilliant, I like that he gets on the range with the weapons too so you can see them in action a lot of the time. There used to be another one I watched by a guy pretending to be Russian which wasn’t as in depth but I can’t remember what it’s called now!
 
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