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Thread: Punt gun

  1. #1
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    Punt gun

    Saw a punter returning from a foray on Cromarty firth last week, started me wondering how much a load (It looked like a 1lb gun) cost, A cup of blackie & a pound of bismuth anyone?

  2. #2
    keith66 is online now Optimisic Pessimist Fella
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    Bismuth is approx £50 a kg so for a 1 pounder £20 odd quid just for the shot, add the powder & it will be £25 to £30 a pop, Good pop though!

  3. #3
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    I didn't know they were still legal in this country.

    Google punt guns and there is a lot of information about them.

    I found this snippet:-

    Some big guns gained almost cult status.’Irish Tom’ was made as a muzzle loading punt gun. It was bought from an Irish market gunner in the early 1930s by WAGBI founder Stanley Duncan. He had it converted to breech-loader by Greener and started using it in 1936. When Duncan had finished with the gun he sold it to the actor James Robertson Justice. It was rediscovered and restored in the 1980s and given to BASC to display at their HQ. Irish Tom has a barrel made from Whitworth steel, weighs 300 lbs and fires 50 oz of shot propelled by 10oz of black powder. The gun is 14 feet in length.

  4. #4
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    punt gun

    Quote Originally Posted by enfield2band View Post
    I didn't know they were still legal in this country.

    Google punt guns and there is a lot of information about them.

    I found this snippet:-

    Some big guns gained almost cult status.’Irish Tom’ was made as a muzzle loading punt gun. It was bought from an Irish market gunner in the early 1930s by WAGBI founder Stanley Duncan. He had it converted to breech-loader by Greener and started using it in 1936. When Duncan had finished with the gun he sold it to the actor James Robertson Justice. It was rediscovered and restored in the 1980s and given to BASC to display at their HQ. Irish Tom has a barrel made from Whitworth steel, weighs 300 lbs and fires 50 oz of shot propelled by 10oz of black powder. The gun is 14 feet in length.
    Payne Galway had a double built one barrel flint the other percusion, one trigger fired both one barrel took them on the floor, the second (flint)in flight, recoil drove stern down

  5. #5
    Unframed Dave's Avatar
    Unframed Dave is offline World pork pie juggling champion three years straight
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    Punt gunning fascinates me after visiting a museum somewhere on the Essex coast. I bought a dvd from there telling it's story.

    A couple of years later I visited an old lady customers house to hang some pictures for her, both walls of her substantial hall were taken up with two very substantial punt guns. Apparently her husband was a serious practitioner in the day.

    I'd love to have a go.

    Dave
    Smell my cheese

  6. #6
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    punt gun

    Quote Originally Posted by Unframed Dave View Post
    Punt gunning fascinates me after visiting a museum somewhere on the Essex coast. I bought a dvd from there telling it's story.

    A couple of years later I visited an old lady customers house to hang some pictures for her, both walls of her substantial hall were taken up with two very substantial punt guns. Apparently her husband was a serious practitioner in the day.

    I'd love to have a go.

    Dave
    The gunning punt adventure is a good read,heard some good tales in the Nith hotel Glencaple in the seventies

  7. #7
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    A cartridge for a breech loading punt gun in my collection.
    photograph here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fronte...7718084462298/

  8. #8
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    heres mine in action,load was 12oz of shot,cant remember the powder charge.target is a caravan cooker.the land "punt" i made from one of those diddy halfords trailers,apologies to all those who have seen this before.it hangs on the wall of my mancave now.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsT3j1E8tmE
    Last edited by greasemonkey; 19-11-2021 at 12:19 PM.
    more guns than you can shake a stick at!

  9. #9
    Unframed Dave's Avatar
    Unframed Dave is offline World pork pie juggling champion three years straight
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    Quote Originally Posted by greasemonkey View Post
    heres mine in action,load was 12oz of shot,cant remember the powder charge.target is a caravan cooker.the land "punt" i made from one of those diddy halfords trailers,apologies to all those who have seen this before.it hangs on the wall of my mancave now.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsT3j1E8tmE
    I had to watch it three times, once to observe the recoil, once to see what happened to the target and then the whole lot.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Dave
    Smell my cheese

  10. #10
    Unframed Dave's Avatar
    Unframed Dave is offline World pork pie juggling champion three years straight
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fronteria View Post
    A cartridge for a breech loading punt gun in my collection.
    photograph here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fronte...7718084462298/
    Incredible, the dvd I have shows cartridges being made by hand. If I remember correctly, several layers of newspaper were wrapped around a former to make the case.

    Dave
    Smell my cheese

  11. #11
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    Punt gun

    Quote Originally Posted by greasemonkey View Post
    heres mine in action,load was 12oz of shot,cant remember the powder charge.target is a caravan cooker.the land "punt" i made from one of those diddy halfords trailers,apologies to all those who have seen this before.it hangs on the wall of my mancave now.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsT3j1E8tmE
    Hi Mr Greasemonkey. I have a few friends who would like to see a demo. We have just the right location over water. I can supply the powder and shot. Perhaps next spring. Is this possible?
    When I die don't let my wife sell my guns for what she thinks I gave for them!!!

  12. #12
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    case

    Quote Originally Posted by Fronteria View Post
    A cartridge for a breech loading punt gun in my collection.
    photograph here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fronte...7718084462298/
    If that is a 3.5" 4 bore case, the punt gun case must be over 9" I wonder what breech action was? Screw probably

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    If that is a 3.5" 4 bore case, the punt gun case must be over 9" I wonder what breech action was? Screw probably
    Hi. Tomcat.
    The cartridge is a touch over 10" I don't know what bore the breech loader that used this cartridge was but it would have made your ears ring when it was fired.
    I think you are correct about it being used in a screw breech punt gun.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Dunkley View Post
    Hi Mr Greasemonkey. I have a few friends who would like to see a demo. We have just the right location over water. I can supply the powder and shot. Perhaps next spring. Is this possible?
    pm sent.
    more guns than you can shake a stick at!

  15. #15
    keith66 is online now Optimisic Pessimist Fella
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    Punt gunning was also practiced on the Venetian lagoon, there they used a type of boat called a Sciopon, a low punt style boat. Some of the guns were huge up to 3" bore. It was banned there in the 1980's.

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