You've got it all wrong. Before battle one opens the butt and secures the weapon with that monopod. Then pours ice, vodka and martini in to the butt. During the battle, the butt will get nicely shaken. After the battle, one stands their musket on the monopod and opens the valve on the pan, to receive their nice, cooled, shaken not stirred vodka-martini without pieces of ice...
@@kristianfischer9814 George Carlin's reasoning for the flamethrower. " There's someone over there I'd really like to burn, but I'm not close enough. 🔥😵💥
How that thing survived is probably a fascinating story we'll never learn. It's not as though it's something someone might have taken home as a hunting piece.
@@parrotraiser6541 Ah, ye old punt gun. But to be closely effective this gun would have to weigh +50lbs and be filled with tremendous amounts of powder.
Finally, thank you! I've been highly interested in firearms before self-contained cartridges for last few months and only could find pictures of this thing; now I have video assurance that it's real and expert explanation of how it works.
@@jonathanferguson1211 flintlock rocket launchers? I'm aware of Mysorean and Congreve rockets. I guess these predate those. I'd love to know more, if there's video or article out there or something.
@@soumyajyotimukherjee4752 There isn't unfortunately; no-one's done any research as yet. But I will cover them when I can. The Mysorean rockets are the earliest, but these things are shoulder-fired. Several different designs, but all are basically Georgian bazookas :)
1685 Tactic00l was *_wilde._* It's a pity to see it doesn't have sling swivels and matching plug-in bayonet. 3:17 They lasted a bit longer for land use in places like Russia: still very much in use during Peter the Great's time.
I'm just trying to imagine what a 17th century soldier would say on being lumbered with this stick of probable disaster..... probably nothing I could write here.
The 4th grader inside me has trouble processing the "Massive swollen butt" Phrase. Jokes aside another magnificent fire arm I didn't knew it existed. thanks for showing.
Well none the less a great great on and on grandfather to the M203. The first thing I started thinking about. When you mentioned the grenadier's knowing the mass attacks of thousands of troops, how devastating would be armed with 500 plus troops armed with M203 / M79 would have been firing in volleys.
your show is awesome. Thank you for sharing this amazing armament! this is the kind of gu a main character wields. Hold on, the boss is here, lets try some grape shot, and maybe a grenade!
This thing fires a bullet out of one end, and a grenade out of the other. I don't think Health and Safety ( or even sanity ) got much of a look in with this weapon.
Somebody probably thought they were being clever when designing that thing, but it's hilarious that they never thought of just simply mounting the "grenade" launcher under the musket's main pipe like some of the modern rifles in comparison. It's funny how they intentionly made that thing more complicated than it should be. Great video as always!
Honestly, I can see how arranging it like that would be problematic. For one thing, as it is now, it can share one firing mechanism. Having to add an entirely separate firing mechanism would add weight to what already has to be a fairly hefty weapon. On top of that, shifting the weight closer to the end of the barrel would make the musket portion much harder to shoot. Weighting down the end of the barrel makes makes a firearm much less accurate. There's a reason why they didn't affix bayonets until they were ready to charge, just that relatively small amount of added weight could completely throw off their aim.
@@screamingcactus1753 Counter balancing the weapon if one wanted the grenade launcher under barrel would be easy. .....If one didn't mind a heavy weapon.
Thank you for such videos. Please, could you do some of the earliest firearms. How did they look, how they shoot and with which projectile and what was the tactics for them in battlefield. There are not much relatively light to watch content on this topic.
Honestly if grenade launcher could fit flairs that's actually a really good hunters gun. You wouldn't need the launcher except in rare cases where you are not needing it suddenly and quickly
Loving this series. Does anyone know why the stock was so wide at the butt plate? I would think that it could be narrowed a more than it is. Also any chance of seeing artillery in this series?
The shape of the grenade would need a wide enough tube to rest in so it could "plug" the barrel enough so the charge would actually push the grenade out instead of having the blast rush around it and dump the bomb at the feet of the soldier. I hope that made sense. 🤷♂️
I assume its its to keep the stock robust enough to support the launcher when under recoil. Or could be aesthetic choice. The lines wouldn't be as smooth if the wood was skinny with a big far metal tube.
@@the_great_tigorian_channel The question wasn't "why is the launching tube so big", it was "why is the shoulder stock just as big as the launching tube, instead of a smaller butt".
Interesting weapon to see and hear about, particularly to see the details about how it was supposed to be fired. I haven't spent enough time looking up artillery information and graphics, so I was sort of hoping for a visual prop of the grenade to be fitted to the stock end (not actually inserted) to be able to envision how the projectile might have operated when it would become airborne. Anyway, thanks a lot for this video, I felt quite compelled to watch the details. I can only assume that the grenade firing angle would need to be somewhat low to keep the gunpowder level with the ignition hole. edit: I was also hoping (although foolishly) for a visual grenade prop to look a bit funny, as if it had been made as a cartoon gimmick. =^.^= 😁
A pommegrenade fruit would have been the perfect prop. The explosive grenade after all gets its name from how the first ones looked just like a pommegrenade!
The cartoon round black bomb with a burning fuse is exactly what it would look like, the pop culture idea of what a bomb looks like stems from this era. The common form of grenade, both for hand throwing and for launching out of various mortar like devices, was a hollow cast iron sphere with a hole. Gunpowder was poured in through this hole as a bursting charge, and the hole plugged with a fuse assembly. What the fuse looked like varied a bit over time. Some of the later and more advanced ones were wooden tubes or cones, containing rammed hard gunpowder as a time delay, and had range markings on the outside so you could cut them for a crude form of airburst. Simpler and more common early on was a cartoon-style rope or string style fuse, much like modern fireworks fuse. This fuse is typically threaded through a wooden plug, which is hammered into the grenade before use. The grenade is loaded into the launcher with the fuse pointing forward, as the grenade clears the muzzle the muzzle blast briefly shoots past and envelops the grenade so the fuze gets lit automatically by muzzle flash. You don't want to load it fuse rearwards, as chamber pressure can push the fuse plug into the grenade and set off the bursting charge prematurely.
9:25. It would be good if you could one day go over the archaic terms for long arms through the ages and put some context to them. Fusil being one of them. What defines a musket? Stuff like that.
Love this channel, I'll be sure to visit the museum if I'm ever in the UK would be great, found through game spot, Subscribed to this channel straight away but not to that so there u go👍
Who put a other musket ball in the bloody deck?!! All I know is that Seamen Pith is seeing the Cap's surgeon for splinters and Seamen Smith for a broken nose.
Excellent series ! Would the 'grenade" fuse have to be lit separately before being fired? What sort of powder charge would have been needed to fire it?
@@jonathanferguson1211 No! Lighting the fuse separately may have been done very early on, but is largely a myth. Muzzle flash from the launcher's lofting charge briefly overtakes and envelops the grenade as it clears the muzzle, lighting the fuse on firing the launcher. This system of automatically igniting a front mounted fuse was very common throughout the muzzleloading era and has even been used in some quite modern artillery. Dead simple, and it works quite reliably. No need for extra moving parts, just leave the unlit fuse sticking out the front of your projectile and it will ignite on firing the launching device. Wether that's an early modern hand mortar or a modern self propelled howitzer, fuse autoignition via muzzle flash works just fine. This may seem counterintuitive since the grenade sits in front of and is propelled by the powder charge, but the burning powder gases are under high pressure and have far less inertia than the heavy projectile. When the projectile clears the muzzle, the gases are freed to greatly but briefly accelerate to equalise the pressure, so the muzzle flash shoots past the grenade for a moment. The reason for having the fuse up front is to ensure chamber pressure cannot force the fuse into the grenade and ignite the bursting charge while still inside the launcher barrel. When cartoon-style round explosive shell were used in longer barreled artillery pieces, they were typically fitted with a wood and leather sabot to make sure the shell stayed fuse-forward while in the gun. Otherwise the round shell could roll against the barrel walls and accidentally rotate fuse rearwards, with unfavorable results. Lighting the fuse first would have been even less OHSA approved than that launcher, what with the misfire rate of flintlocks. You don't want to hear a click when the fuse is already lit...
@@Kaboomf Thank you for the comment. I will admit my ignorance here, and acknowledge that what you say makes a lot of sense! We have no examples of the munitions themselves to examine, and I have never come across any period sources. Can you recommend any?
@@jonathanferguson1211 unfortunately, period sources are hard to find as grenade technology was often secret and passed down in an oral tradition among grenadiers and artillerymen. Grenades for hand throwing or launching out of a hand mortar are often impossible to identify as such, because they're identical to explosive cannon shells from the muzzleloading era. Stereotypical cartoon bombs, spherical cast iron or other hard material body with a fuze sticking out. I wouldn't be surprised if you do have some, just mislabeled as cannon shell or early hand grenades as they look absolutely identical. Some countries still have a depiction of such round grenades as part of insignia for grenadier units. Same design as mortar shells of the same era, differing only in size. Some grenades were ceramic rather than iron, but I suspect those are too brittle for use with a launcher. I see several online sources claim the "single fire" automatic fuze ignition was discovered in the mid 1700's, but a cursory search didn't reveal any primary source.
@@jonathanferguson1211 I did some more googling. Examples of this general class of grenade have apparently been found in some shipwrecks, the Whydah and the Queen Annes Revenge. That might be a starting point?
Load the grenade launcher, put all your trust on the gate and start using the gun as normal. Until the gate fails, gun spits sparks to the grenade launcher side and you are the recipient of half kilo of fast moving metal right into your shoulder :D Good thing is that i believe they have to be lighted in order for the grenades to explode. Bad thing is that it wont matter :D
A (slightly safer?) option might be to have the powder charge in and wadded and the gate shut very tight. Then when you want to switch, pop the cover, load and fuse the grenade and pull the trigger. A chain fire would still be a significant emotional event...but at least there'd be an expansion chamber to soak some of the pressure.
You dont rock around with both ends loaded. You are either loading and firing one end or the other: gentlemen who forget this are liable to be seeing the surgeon at best, most likely to be getting a sea burial. Cause I know the navy and if any nutters used this it was them, they love adopting the newest stuff.
This is something a Legión Peruana, Which is a particular Peruvian unit that asumes the role of both your standard Line Infantry but also a Grenadier (that is the depiction i get from AoE3 DE or AoE3 WoL which is where i have saw them as i'm not Peruvian myself), might use to asume both roles
I just get a tacticool feel from this.You could easily fit a bayonet on the mussel and spikes on the buttstockcoverthingie for the use as a club to level it to another higher grade of tacticool
I would hope the two barrels aren't connected. Each has a separate vent from the flash pan. That's as close as they get. I would expect the launcher to be low recoil. Partly because it's using a black powder charge. Partly because it has the rest and the mass off the rest of the weapon to help with control.
Here mate, please don’t take this the wrong way but using Boots own hair gel isn’t a good look. Change to a dry look paste/mud and you’ll look sharp. I wasn’t going to say anything but it triggered suppressed memories of my own hair gel use back at Carnoustie High School C1992….. great content mate, really like your British Bullpup content… wish someone would make a left handed EM2 in 30 Carbine…. Coz this Scotsman would buy that for sure…. Coz I live in Texas now, where the freedom is!
Just...WOW! A "onepod" muzzle-loading grenade musket... The ideas are just amazing. I mean not that pratical or safe but, amazing none the less. We need one of these in a video-game: an absolute long arms character shoot the musket, do a fancy move like the lever action shotgun from Terminator 2, load the grenade, put the "onepod" on the ground and fire... camon! You probably would be killed 13 out of 10 times trying to do this whole procedure but...
I would have thought 💭 that ship's swivel guns mounted on the deck rails may have also been used as grenade launchers. The danger here is the main charge also incinerating the fuse thus detonating the grenade close to the firer. This could be avoided by packing lots of wadding between the grenade and the main charge so that it leaves the barrel with sufficient length of fuse lit for the duration of its flight?.
Wild. Really cool and in great condition. How many inventions are just 2 things stuck together that used to not be? Lol You gotta get a bigger room to do these vids in. That seemed extremely awkward and difficult to present so close to the camera.
I can't imagine that firing very far. You'd have to load quite a bit of powder to get the grenade far enough to justify this. Otherwise you could just sling the bomb. :p
we cant accurately lob a bomb very far, especially up and over defences, and you wouldn't want to fluff your throw :D If this gives you 100 yards, that's already an amazing force multiplier. 2 or 3 guys with these per 20 or so men and you really would have an assault force compared to other 16th century lads.
@@guypierson5754 That would be great! Still I wonder how much powder it takes to get it that far. It might be worth it to lose a couple of men to exploding mini mortars.
Perhaps try a leaf from Ians book and start with a overview shot and transition to a closeup focused on the table to make what you show easier to see. And that thing seems like a perfect example of why clever is not always smart.
@@jonathanferguson1211 My point was perhaps that Ians setup has never been all that professional but by switching to a closeup its less clutter in the frame to compete with. And it is frankly impressive the amount of stuff you get made from a public organisation!
@@borjesvensson8661 No, I got what you meant; I've watched Ian work after all. It's an excellent cheap, quick, one-man setup. But at present, I don't even have a camera to attempt it with. Everything I do is with a webcam (we have a decent mic sent by Gamespot at least). I'm told that my colleagues are working on it...
Find a space where you and the object you are showing can be a little further back from the camera, so that more of it is in the view field at the same time. Right now it feels like you are filming in a cramped closet.
It's a very ad hoc setup. I have a full time job to do (albeit a very fun one) and it's literally just me doing the recording with very little kit or free time. Bear with us while we work on improvements.
@Jonathan Ferguson: Thank you for responding. Wish you luck on being able to upscale quickly. Low budget option: Put everything you currently have on a single, simple shelf (or sim. e.g.: a towering stack of books.....), at eye level. Most of my projects seem to be done in "make-do" mode, so I understand. Forces me to be creative.
@@jimbayler4277 Not an option in that store. It's really not set up for it. I also have to be careful of camera angles for security reasons. But I'm assured that my colleagues are looking into this :)
I always find it interesting that in the Musket world, a firearm with a 35" barrel would be considered a Short Barreled Rifle.
And .65 a carbine calibre.
This is proof that a person can be both brilliant and insane at the same time.
Brilliantly insane.
Insanely brilliant.
"The line between genius and insanity is not meant to be used as a jump rope!!"
And persuasive. They got someone to make it.
I don't see anything but brilliance
This is either madness or brilliant.
It's funny how often the two coincide with each other.
The term "More trouble than its worth", springs to mind.
You've got it all wrong. Before battle one opens the butt and secures the weapon with that monopod. Then pours ice, vodka and martini in to the butt. During the battle, the butt will get nicely shaken. After the battle, one stands their musket on the monopod and opens the valve on the pan, to receive their nice, cooled, shaken not stirred vodka-martini without pieces of ice...
Sounds like a better idea.
You're a genius Q.
Yes he is 007
Gin !!
Even 17th century Scarface needed a "little friend".
Glad to see that they had noob tubes in the 1600’s
🤣😂🤣😂
“Dothe thou enjoyeth the aroma of me testies noob?” -British soldier after t bagging a fallen soldier
@@fleezyp Read that as series one Blackadder, split my sides it did.
17th century OICW.
My brothers and I use to it the pro pipe
"Massively swollen butt" Matt Easton approves this message.
Frederick Duke of Mercury says they makes his world go round. ;)
Nah, he did not often enough use the word context for it to be Easton approved.
Despite the potential hazard you have to admit it was pretty ingenious. People have always been quite creative, haven't they?
When it come to killing our fellow man, we've always been pushing the limits.
@@kristianfischer9814 the same could be said for saving them too, though. Remember the good as well.
@@kristianfischer9814 George Carlin's reasoning for the flamethrower. " There's someone over there I'd really like to burn, but I'm not close enough. 🔥😵💥
Especially war machines. It's Satan's world, so he inspires the world to invent new ways to kill other humans.
Im sure it was fun to blast of your shoulder accidentally.. :D
How that thing survived is probably a fascinating story we'll never learn. It's not as though it's something someone might have taken home as a hunting piece.
That would be a messy method for hunting.
If you don’t think it would be taken home for hunting then you lack creativity my friend!
@@yo388 I suppose the grenade-launcher end might be used for industrial-scale fishing in suitable-sized bodies of water.
@@parrotraiser6541 now you’re getting it!
@@parrotraiser6541 Ah, ye old punt gun. But to be closely effective this gun would have to weigh +50lbs and be filled with tremendous amounts of powder.
A multi use naval weapon? I’m almost bothered it isn’t Swedish.
"I like big butts and I cannot lie"
- 17th century sailors
I’m quite a fan of a “big ol back end” Jonny boy
Finally, thank you! I've been highly interested in firearms before self-contained cartridges for last few months and only could find pictures of this thing; now I have video assurance that it's real and expert explanation of how it works.
Grenade projector with a whacking great monopod. Remarkable forward thinking.
Now I'm wondering if its possible to create a flintlock recoilless rifle🤔
I'm sure a couple users of this firearm found out.
We may or may not have flintlock rocket launchers.
@@jonathanferguson1211 flintlock rocket launchers?
I'm aware of Mysorean and Congreve rockets.
I guess these predate those.
I'd love to know more, if there's video or article out there or something.
@@soumyajyotimukherjee4752 There isn't unfortunately; no-one's done any research as yet. But I will cover them when I can. The Mysorean rockets are the earliest, but these things are shoulder-fired. Several different designs, but all are basically Georgian bazookas :)
@@jonathanferguson1211 I wish you all the luck then. It'll be interesting to see. 👍
Flintlock rocket launchers, who would thought, eh?
Getting closer to the Brown Bess Mr. Ferguson! Thank you, that was cool!
Finally! The *tactical* musket! 😎
Thanks again SIR Jonathan!!
Have a little algorithm boost. The Royal Armouries need all the attention in the world.
Interesting that at least three survive suggesting that there were a lot more than that around in 1685-7 so perhaps more than an experimental weapon
lets goooo support your local museums!
1685 Tactic00l was *_wilde._* It's a pity to see it doesn't have sling swivels and matching plug-in bayonet.
3:17 They lasted a bit longer for land use in places like Russia: still very much in use during Peter the Great's time.
I'm just trying to imagine what a 17th century soldier would say on being lumbered with this stick of probable disaster..... probably nothing I could write here.
That's a scary concept haha I wouldn't want to have used that back in that day haha.
The 4th grader inside me has trouble processing the "Massive swollen butt" Phrase. Jokes aside another magnificent fire arm I didn't knew it existed. thanks for showing.
Thanks Jonathan and team, that was very interesting to see.
That is the thiccest musket I've ever seen
Well none the less a great great on and on grandfather to the M203. The first thing I started thinking about. When you mentioned the grenadier's knowing the mass attacks of thousands of troops, how devastating would be armed with 500 plus troops armed with M203 / M79 would have been firing in volleys.
I'm guesing the missing part near the muzzle is probably a device to cover the muzzle to prevent it being stuffed with soil.
So does this mean you'd need to PUSH the trigger rather than pull it to fire the grenade? Since it's then facing the other way?
I guess
Wonderful, thank you so much for sharing this crazy thing with us. Cheers!
if they did both shoot at once it would almost be like a recoilless rifle lol.
Big Brain
4 enemies and 1 friendly all at the same time, with no recoil. PERFECT
@@Bramswarr xD
Why is there noting like this in any game???? This is gonna be so cool and wacky
your show is awesome. Thank you for sharing this amazing armament! this is the kind of gu a main character wields. Hold on, the boss is here, lets try some grape shot, and maybe a grenade!
Thank you!
Easiest "would you rather?" between shooting your musket in the ground and firing a grenade right at your shoulder.
That was way more complicated than I expected. I assumed the cup was just removed from the stock and attached to the normal muzzle
This thing fires a bullet out of one end, and a grenade out of the other.
I don't think Health and Safety ( or even sanity ) got much of a look in with this weapon.
Sanity at the very least got the 1600s version of the middle finger.
Great to see this after I mentioned it last video! Fingers crossed for the pistol shield next! 😉
One day...
Both musket and a grenade launcher. Must be the ancestor of the SPIW and OICW.
Impressively knowledgeable as always. very interesting piece, wish there was evidence of its use.
This series is a treat.
"It's got a big ol' back-end, as you can see" is how I'll introduce my girlfriend from now on
You'll only do it once.
Very interesting!
Thanks great video
Somebody probably thought they were being clever when designing that thing, but it's hilarious that they never thought of just simply mounting the "grenade" launcher under the musket's main pipe like some of the modern rifles in comparison. It's funny how they intentionly made that thing more complicated than it should be. Great video as always!
Honestly, I can see how arranging it like that would be problematic. For one thing, as it is now, it can share one firing mechanism. Having to add an entirely separate firing mechanism would add weight to what already has to be a fairly hefty weapon. On top of that, shifting the weight closer to the end of the barrel would make the musket portion much harder to shoot. Weighting down the end of the barrel makes makes a firearm much less accurate. There's a reason why they didn't affix bayonets until they were ready to charge, just that relatively small amount of added weight could completely throw off their aim.
@@screamingcactus1753 Counter balancing the weapon if one wanted the grenade launcher under barrel would be easy.
.....If one didn't mind a heavy weapon.
Fascinating!!! Though there are 7 people who didn’t think so
Thank you for such videos. Please, could you do some of the earliest firearms. How did they look, how they shoot and with which projectile and what was the tactics for them in battlefield. There are not much relatively light to watch content on this topic.
I would like to see this weapon in a game!
Honestly if grenade launcher could fit flairs that's actually a really good hunters gun. You wouldn't need the launcher except in rare cases where you are not needing it suddenly and quickly
Loving this series. Does anyone know why the stock was so wide at the butt plate? I would think that it could be narrowed a more than it is. Also any chance of seeing artillery in this series?
Possible to hold a large amount of powder for the mortar/ launcher . 😉☠🇬🇧
The shape of the grenade would need a wide enough tube to rest in so it could "plug" the barrel enough so the charge would actually push the grenade out instead of having the blast rush around it and dump the bomb at the feet of the soldier.
I hope that made sense. 🤷♂️
I assume its its to keep the stock robust enough to support the launcher when under recoil. Or could be aesthetic choice. The lines wouldn't be as smooth if the wood was skinny with a big far metal tube.
@@the_great_tigorian_channel The question wasn't "why is the launching tube so big", it was "why is the shoulder stock just as big as the launching tube, instead of a smaller butt".
I need this in my life
Very cool weapon.
Interesting weapon to see and hear about, particularly to see the details about how it was supposed to be fired. I haven't spent enough time looking up artillery information and graphics, so I was sort of hoping for a visual prop of the grenade to be fitted to the stock end (not actually inserted) to be able to envision how the projectile might have operated when it would become airborne. Anyway, thanks a lot for this video, I felt quite compelled to watch the details. I can only assume that the grenade firing angle would need to be somewhat low to keep the gunpowder level with the ignition hole.
edit: I was also hoping (although foolishly) for a visual grenade prop to look a bit funny, as if it had been made as a cartoon gimmick. =^.^= 😁
A pommegrenade fruit would have been the perfect prop. The explosive grenade after all gets its name from how the first ones looked just like a pommegrenade!
The cartoon round black bomb with a burning fuse is exactly what it would look like, the pop culture idea of what a bomb looks like stems from this era.
The common form of grenade, both for hand throwing and for launching out of various mortar like devices, was a hollow cast iron sphere with a hole. Gunpowder was poured in through this hole as a bursting charge, and the hole plugged with a fuse assembly. What the fuse looked like varied a bit over time. Some of the later and more advanced ones were wooden tubes or cones, containing rammed hard gunpowder as a time delay, and had range markings on the outside so you could cut them for a crude form of airburst. Simpler and more common early on was a cartoon-style rope or string style fuse, much like modern fireworks fuse. This fuse is typically threaded through a wooden plug, which is hammered into the grenade before use. The grenade is loaded into the launcher with the fuse pointing forward, as the grenade clears the muzzle the muzzle blast briefly shoots past and envelops the grenade so the fuze gets lit automatically by muzzle flash. You don't want to load it fuse rearwards, as chamber pressure can push the fuse plug into the grenade and set off the bursting charge prematurely.
9:25. It would be good if you could one day go over the archaic terms for long arms through the ages and put some context to them. Fusil being one of them. What defines a musket? Stuff like that.
Love this channel, I'll be sure to visit the museum if I'm ever in the UK would be great, found through game spot, Subscribed to this channel straight away but not to that so there u go👍
Thank you! I hope you make it here at some point.
Load both to make it recoilless.
That's a beast 👍
Very interesting
Who put a other musket ball in the bloody deck?!!
All I know is that Seamen Pith is seeing the Cap's surgeon for splinters and Seamen Smith for a broken nose.
it's a Spork. useful as neither a spoon, nor a fork.
James II died in 1460 so that's a seriously ahead of its time weapon. Unless you meant James VII of course.
There's always one ;-)
As a Ferguson, I should probably have clarified James II of England... Still, JRII is what's on the gun :)
@@jonathanferguson1211 Ha, yes, it was really obvious what one you meant. I was just being facetious to get a cheap laugh :)
@@etiennesharp I assumed, but I can't help myself :)
i wonder if there is many of these with the buttstock complete. I wonder if this ever got into mass production or just a good old idea ?
Interesting
Bugger the health and safety it looks cool
Excellent series ! Would the 'grenade" fuse have to be lit separately before being fired? What sort of powder charge would have been needed to fire it?
Yes! As to the powder charge, no information on that survives and a I don't much fancy finding out experimentally!
@@jonathanferguson1211 No! Lighting the fuse separately may have been done very early on, but is largely a myth.
Muzzle flash from the launcher's lofting charge briefly overtakes and envelops the grenade as it clears the muzzle, lighting the fuse on firing the launcher. This system of automatically igniting a front mounted fuse was very common throughout the muzzleloading era and has even been used in some quite modern artillery. Dead simple, and it works quite reliably. No need for extra moving parts, just leave the unlit fuse sticking out the front of your projectile and it will ignite on firing the launching device. Wether that's an early modern hand mortar or a modern self propelled howitzer, fuse autoignition via muzzle flash works just fine.
This may seem counterintuitive since the grenade sits in front of and is propelled by the powder charge, but the burning powder gases are under high pressure and have far less inertia than the heavy projectile. When the projectile clears the muzzle, the gases are freed to greatly but briefly accelerate to equalise the pressure, so the muzzle flash shoots past the grenade for a moment.
The reason for having the fuse up front is to ensure chamber pressure cannot force the fuse into the grenade and ignite the bursting charge while still inside the launcher barrel. When cartoon-style round explosive shell were used in longer barreled artillery pieces, they were typically fitted with a wood and leather sabot to make sure the shell stayed fuse-forward while in the gun. Otherwise the round shell could roll against the barrel walls and accidentally rotate fuse rearwards, with unfavorable results.
Lighting the fuse first would have been even less OHSA approved than that launcher, what with the misfire rate of flintlocks. You don't want to hear a click when the fuse is already lit...
@@Kaboomf Thank you for the comment. I will admit my ignorance here, and acknowledge that what you say makes a lot of sense! We have no examples of the munitions themselves to examine, and I have never come across any period sources. Can you recommend any?
@@jonathanferguson1211 unfortunately, period sources are hard to find as grenade technology was often secret and passed down in an oral tradition among grenadiers and artillerymen. Grenades for hand throwing or launching out of a hand mortar are often impossible to identify as such, because they're identical to explosive cannon shells from the muzzleloading era. Stereotypical cartoon bombs, spherical cast iron or other hard material body with a fuze sticking out. I wouldn't be surprised if you do have some, just mislabeled as cannon shell or early hand grenades as they look absolutely identical. Some countries still have a depiction of such round grenades as part of insignia for grenadier units. Same design as mortar shells of the same era, differing only in size. Some grenades were ceramic rather than iron, but I suspect those are too brittle for use with a launcher.
I see several online sources claim the "single fire" automatic fuze ignition was discovered in the mid 1700's, but a cursory search didn't reveal any primary source.
@@jonathanferguson1211 I did some more googling. Examples of this general class of grenade have apparently been found in some shipwrecks, the Whydah and the Queen Annes Revenge. That might be a starting point?
Load the grenade launcher, put all your trust on the gate and start using the gun as normal. Until the gate fails, gun spits sparks to the grenade launcher side and you are the recipient of half kilo of fast moving metal right into your shoulder :D
Good thing is that i believe they have to be lighted in order for the grenades to explode. Bad thing is that it wont matter :D
A (slightly safer?) option might be to have the powder charge in and wadded and the gate shut very tight. Then when you want to switch, pop the cover, load and fuse the grenade and pull the trigger. A chain fire would still be a significant emotional event...but at least there'd be an expansion chamber to soak some of the pressure.
You dont rock around with both ends loaded. You are either loading and firing one end or the other: gentlemen who forget this are liable to be seeing the surgeon at best, most likely to be getting a sea burial. Cause I know the navy and if any nutters used this it was them, they love adopting the newest stuff.
I want a Davey Crockett!
Mom: We have a Davey Crockett at home.
Amazing
This is something a Legión Peruana, Which is a particular Peruvian unit that asumes the role of both your standard Line Infantry but also a Grenadier (that is the depiction i get from AoE3 DE or AoE3 WoL which is where i have saw them as i'm not Peruvian myself), might use to asume both roles
Yep
I wonder how many accidentally fired a grenade into their shoulder
None mate, grenades at the time were iron balls with a fuse: you wouldn't rock around with a grenade loaded.
I just get a tacticool feel from this.You could easily fit a bayonet on the mussel and spikes on the buttstockcoverthingie for the use as a club to level it to another higher grade of tacticool
Then steal a spyglass from the ship's navigator and mount it on this thing as a scope
Would this be considered the first "select fire" weapon?
I need a soundbite of Jonathan saying «Massively swollen butt». Don’t ask what I need it for.
would the grenade launcher have very low recoil because the back fire would just go out the barrel of the gun?
I would hope the two barrels aren't connected. Each has a separate vent from the flash pan. That's as close as they get.
I would expect the launcher to be low recoil. Partly because it's using a black powder charge. Partly because it has the rest and the mass off the rest of the weapon to help with control.
Even tacticool and good ideas fairy are older than most people think.
The steak doesn't have a knife on it now that's a messed up opportunity
People that made this are like :” what if we made a cannon that we can bring everywhere?”
How much did that sold one go for?
"MASSIVELY SWOLLEN BUTT" -Jonathan Ferguson, Sept 2021
What a fantasticly weird thing.
When you want to go Full Metal Jacket on your enemy, but you're 200 years too early.
Here mate, please don’t take this the wrong way but using Boots own hair gel isn’t a good look. Change to a dry look paste/mud and you’ll look sharp. I wasn’t going to say anything but it triggered suppressed memories of my own hair gel use back at Carnoustie High School C1992….. great content mate, really like your British Bullpup content… wish someone would make a left handed EM2 in 30 Carbine…. Coz this Scotsman would buy that for sure…. Coz I live in Texas now, where the freedom is!
I have reached lockdown levels of hair length and only industrial strength gel is up to the task. Not Boots, mind.
@@jonathanferguson1211 Gummy Professional styling wax, that stuff can be used for construction
@@MrTrilbe agreed, but that’s year 2000 industrial styling levels of hold.
@@nobilismaximus hey it'll hold anything and comes in matt, plus Jonathan with a mohawk would be awesome, unprofessional but awesome
@@MrTrilbe bet it’s ballistic gel….. yeah I said it!
Just...WOW! A "onepod" muzzle-loading grenade musket... The ideas are just amazing. I mean not that pratical or safe but, amazing none the less. We need one of these in a video-game: an absolute long arms character shoot the musket, do a fancy move like the lever action shotgun from Terminator 2, load the grenade, put the "onepod" on the ground and fire... camon! You probably would be killed 13 out of 10 times trying to do this whole procedure but...
I believe the term you are looking for is "monopod"
"Swollen Butt if i can say that on the internet" So its the Kim Kardashian of the fire arms world?
You've got it wrong... you leave a charge in the musket and fire them both at the same time to cancel out the recoil!
Not related to the musket in the video but is it possible to just lob grenade launcher grenades by hand and have them detonate
The grenades this would have used? yes, they looked like am iron ball with a fuse you light by hand, like the cartoon bombs from Tom and Jerry.
@@guypierson5754 I meant like those rotary grenade launcher grenades (I dont know the actual name of it)
I would have thought 💭 that ship's swivel guns mounted on the deck rails may have also been used as grenade launchers. The danger here is the main charge also incinerating the fuse thus detonating the grenade close to the firer. This could be avoided by packing lots of wadding between the grenade and the main charge so that it leaves the barrel with sufficient length of fuse lit for the duration of its flight?.
Great video but the zoom at 2:22 made me lose my shit for about 5 minutes 😂
Ah,but did it go"ye bloop!"
Wild. Really cool and in great condition.
How many inventions are just 2 things stuck together that used to not be? Lol
You gotta get a bigger room to do these vids in. That seemed extremely awkward and difficult to present so close to the camera.
Sets up mortar
Lights the fuse on grenade
Click puff sizzle
😨
If someone tried to convince me this existed without showing it to me I would absolutely call bullshit
This is what I love about our collection :)
@@jonathanferguson1211 love to see these wacky 17th century/ 18th century pieces. Keep up the good work!
"Massive swollen butt"? That's a swear and I'm calling you mummy
it's usually a lot more comfortable to cheek a massively swollen butt
"I like massively swollen butts and I cannot lie."
I can't imagine that firing very far. You'd have to load quite a bit of powder to get the grenade far enough to justify this. Otherwise you could just sling the bomb. :p
we cant accurately lob a bomb very far, especially up and over defences, and you wouldn't want to fluff your throw :D If this gives you 100 yards, that's already an amazing force multiplier. 2 or 3 guys with these per 20 or so men and you really would have an assault force compared to other 16th century lads.
@@guypierson5754 That would be great! Still I wonder how much powder it takes to get it that far. It might be worth it to lose a couple of men to exploding mini mortars.
The Kardashian-pattern musket.
I feel like just carrying a secondary launcher would be a lot safee and more practical.
Perhaps try a leaf from Ians book and start with a overview shot and transition to a closeup focused on the table to make what you show easier to see.
And that thing seems like a perfect example of why clever is not always smart.
We're working on a more professional setup. As a large public organisation our flash-to-bang time is not always quick :)
@@jonathanferguson1211 My point was perhaps that Ians setup has never been all that professional but by switching to a closeup its less clutter in the frame to compete with. And it is frankly impressive the amount of stuff you get made from a public organisation!
@@borjesvensson8661 No, I got what you meant; I've watched Ian work after all. It's an excellent cheap, quick, one-man setup. But at present, I don't even have a camera to attempt it with. Everything I do is with a webcam (we have a decent mic sent by Gamespot at least). I'm told that my colleagues are working on it...
Find a space where you and the object you are showing can be a little further back from the camera, so that more of it is in the view field at the same time.
Right now it feels like you are filming in a cramped closet.
It's a very ad hoc setup. I have a full time job to do (albeit a very fun one) and it's literally just me doing the recording with very little kit or free time. Bear with us while we work on improvements.
@Jonathan Ferguson: Thank you for responding.
Wish you luck on being able to upscale quickly.
Low budget option: Put everything you currently have on a single, simple shelf (or sim. e.g.: a towering stack of books.....), at eye level.
Most of my projects seem to be done in "make-do" mode, so I understand. Forces me to be creative.
@@jimbayler4277 Not an option in that store. It's really not set up for it. I also have to be careful of camera angles for security reasons. But I'm assured that my colleagues are looking into this :)
the mortar part doesn't look like it'd have much range due to a limited powder charge!!