Your enthusiasm is contagious. I have been a muzzle loader since 1979. I also worked at the Smithsonian Institution from 2000-2004. In 2004, I worked in the Conservation Dept. to prepare muzzle loading firearms for an exhibition. Experimental Archaeology is so much fun.
Forgotten weapons had a video about a flintlock that involved multiple loads down the barrel, a rail for the trigger group and flint, and then fluted holes for each touch hole. Starting at the front, every time you cocked it, a reservoir of primer powder would go into the frizzen pan. After you fired a shot, you were supposed to slide it on a reil to the next touch hole.
Hey Sir, you do know about the "Everything Black Powder" YT channel right?? I know you said that you can't make your own, but these guys are making their own, and have been doing a lot of experiments. Their goal is to beat Swiss for power and cleanliness, and they have succeeded multiple times. This would be a good source for ongoing experimental archaeology. If there are things that you want to see done, such as replicating a 16th century French powder recipe, I'm sure the guys at Everything Black Powder would be super excited to hear from you and extremely willing to do your experiments for you! Keep up the good work.
My thought of how/when this could be useful: as an emergency secondary weapon. You're guarding the wagon train & you have a bunch of these preloaded. A few guys grab & light while hiding behind cover to send a bunch of metal in the direction of the raiders in question. A bunch of noise, flying metal, smoke and confusion is created while others race over to help. You still (in theory) have an aimable shot left in the barrel. In an era where it was possible for people to be unfamiliar with firearms, uncertain about size of guns, number of guns, etc, may have been enough to drive off a less determined opponent. Battlefield use, maybe not; but I can see a utility to it (at least in theory) within what is known of the era.
I guess it works better with cannons. The Feuerwerkbuch describes it for bombards and does not use gunpowder but sulphur candles for the drillholes of the projectiles which are naturally larger than the slugs for the handgonne leading to a significantly longer delay. The sealing is also easier to control since the calking is applied directly by hand. The anonymous author also puts great emphasis on both proper sealing and the difference between meal and corned powder (also warning about the dangers of air gaps between powder and projectile).
I was waiting for this video, great job. Discovering old technology is what I love. This videos and test should be saved and shown in museums for better understanding old weaponry and battle tactics.
Imagine being a crossbowman's shield barer and suddenly getting double-tapped without even knowing what a double-tap is. Just the sound of that bang-bang is so different from how other black-powder guns typically sound. Even if the slugs don't have the power to get through your jack and gambeson after punching through the pavise you'd still be flat on your back wondering what just happened.
Great video. Glad people are carrying on research into medieval fiearms (which I did back in the early 2000's) Unfortunately at the time it was too difficult for me to move onto experimentation like you have. Well done!
this is honestly one of the coolest things i've ever seen any gun channel do, ever. i honestly wonder if this was ever used in any specific battles or conflicts featuring handgonnes or other early blackpowder weapons - though, considering superimposed load weapons are quite uncommonly seen or talked about anywhere - i'd assume that they weren't particularly popular. unironically starting to wonder if this would technically count as a fully automatic firearm under US law, as if you consider the fuse to be the "trigger", then this does indeed discharge multiple rounds (with a significant delay, instead of all at once like some of the failed attempts featured in this video or stuff like shotguns) per activation of the trigger - though i heavily doubt this should really count considering no criminal ever would ever want to spend that much time reloading LOL i would love to see more content about lesser-known historic weapons / weapon designs such as these - as mentioned earlier i love this kind of stuff and i really hope you continue to make more cool stuff like this!!! :D
Fascinating, thanks for the link to the Leeds University tests, I will review that information. I was born in Yorkshire the same county in England as Leeds.
29:19 There's something fascinating about the most ancient and primitive type of firearm firing as quickly and with a similar sound and look to doing a double tap with a modern semi-automatic firearm
It may be easier and more reliable if you drill multiple touch holes into the barrel, one for each charge, so you can shoot 3 bullets independently. Of course the touch holes need covers, so they dont ignite from the sparks of the other touch holes
Very entertaining video! I can almost hear the footsteps of those 15th century R&D guys running for the hills after they lit the fuse - and the surprise and excitement when it finally worked!
Excellent video. There is just something ellegent about muzzle-loading firearms. I think it is the entire ritual you must perform in order to fire one (or two😉) shots...
How about you put the fuse into the last pierce-through bullet and instead of having black powder ignited, the fuse will initiate the firing sequence. The fuse should burn the powder behind the last bullet and it shouldn't go boom.
Magnificent. Continuing great work! However I must confess, I do yearn to see a half dozen shots fire off like a machine gun. I think if made reliable, it most definitely would be practical as an ambush weapon or for use in siege warfare. In this context, the long preparation time is not an issue. Alternatively, the other option is to have a gun with many vents, correlating with the internal charges; each ignited manually. (which might be more reliable)
@@GaiusCaligula234 If you start as milan first you go Crossbow Spearman then pike men crossbow plus Trebuchet, eventually you get to gunners, Arquebusiers then musketeers.
You're so close 😮 Think about it from the hand-gonners point of view.😊 There's no way they could prepare charged projectiles in the field. They would have been prepared ahead of time by making a powder paste and then drying them beside a heat source like a chimney This is almost identical to the process in fireworks manufacturing and used because it works. I think these modifications will have the desired effect and would explain why a single-shot weapon, no matter how loud could be effective. I love ❤️ experimental archeology in the beautiful bright Hungrish language😅🍻
Hi, did you try to replace the (miniscule) compressed powder charge in the projectiles' touch hole with a short piece of fuze between the loads? Might add a somewhat longer delay time between shots. But - as always, outstanding content and enthusiasm ! Carry on, please ! How did you make the drilled slugs ?
It seems like it would be more reliable if the hole in the slug were filled with a piece of fast match cord. It also might be possible to seal around the slugs with wax and tallow as opposed to patches, though the latter probably work better.
If I understand correctly, in Hungary you are allowed to distill your own liquor, tax-free, but you are not allowed to make your own black powder.😄That's still better than here in Belgium, both are prohibited.
Thank you for this very informative and funny report.👍😊👍 It would be interesting to know what happened in the Middle Ages until they had the right powder mixtures. But that was probably not recorded.🤕 Some people had powder mixtures that were very close to what we have today.🤔
Amazing video! I really wonder if they used this system in volley guns. If so, it would be a medieval machine gun even it would not be very reliable in combat
How do you make your repeating balls? The best I could figure, was to pour hot lead into a pipe, and then push it out with some kind of rod. Then if it were me, I would cut them to length, and drill a hole. That would probably mean remounting a bunch of little bits of lead. So the only other thing I can think of would be to run a wire down the pipe?
Excellent work! Would threading a fuse through each lead ball work? Like suppose you had a fuse threaded through the first one, dumped some powder in and shook the whole thing to settle the powder, and then used a slim stick instead of a ramrod, or some kind of tube that could go around the fuse to tamp down the second shot, and then repeat the process that way? It might be more time-consuming, but it would mean a consistent burn time with a fuse going all the way through the shots. I'm not sure if it would work. If you try it, please let us know.
Anyone know how to say "ho ho ho, now I have a machine gun" in Old Hunglish? Also, as I have watched your videos recently, I'd like to ask something. There was one about two nice wheellock pistols, which you said were made by Polish gunsmith - does he have any social media site, or shop site, or anything? I would like to find this dude, as such old firearms are on my long "to buy" list, but I couldn't find anybody by the name you provided in the video which sounded like "Piotr Ziółko"
One thing I've been wondering watching these videos is how do you go about unloading the handgonne after a failed firing or test especially when you are creating very tight fits in the bore
The first charge is flooded with water through the touch hole, the ones above that are flooded from the muzzle. All bullets are drilled throughs, so water can get to all the charges. When I removed the balls, the powder was quite wet.
When it comes to the over the shoulder shooting position, would they have had something that would act as a fuse in order to have some form of aim or would they have entirely depended on either slower burning powder or another guy to set off the touch hole? Also, is it possible that some of these Medieval Repeaters (if they worked) wouldn't have had a breech touch hole due to it being unnecessary and powder getting forced out during ramming, or would they still have one because single shot would still be desirable in certain circumstances? (Sorry that this is quite long, I'm genuinely curious) finally, Chinese Snow is one heck of a nickname for saltpeter!
I wonder if the method in the codex you are attmepting is a way to launch multable projectiles without loading them over a single powder charge like we would do conventually in a more modern musket and therefore not having big pressure spikes all at once in the fragile cast iron weapons of the day. It may not have to do so much with it going off in sequence like a Roman candle.
Taking in consideration the Medieval build quality, tolerances and material technology, I don't think that overloading of a barrel of fire weapon would be good for health...especially in combat where the powder measuring and safety precautions would be out of the window. Still a interesting proof of concept. This is a great channel. If I may make a suggestion (that was also made to me countless of times) I would suggest that you try to speak a bit slower, that will make much easier for us to understand. Thank you very much!
First shot weak. Propably reason is the shortes barrel. Serpent powder (my favorite) burn realy slow, so that process continuos in barrel when projectile start fly away. Long barrel serpent powder burning in barrel increase quantity of gases. Short barrels lots of serpentpowder end burning in air out of barrel less gases, weaker shot.
Your enthusiasm is contagious. I have been a muzzle loader since 1979. I also worked at the Smithsonian Institution from 2000-2004. In 2004, I worked in the Conservation Dept. to prepare muzzle loading firearms for an exhibition. Experimental Archaeology is so much fun.
Sheesh, shootin' powder since '79, i'm from '97!
Thanks for keeping history alive through your work on a firearms exhibition
Forgotten weapons had a video about a flintlock that involved multiple loads down the barrel, a rail for the trigger group and flint, and then fluted holes for each touch hole.
Starting at the front, every time you cocked it, a reservoir of primer powder would go into the frizzen pan. After you fired a shot, you were supposed to slide it on a reil to the next touch hole.
I loved this little series! It was absolutely BRILLIANT!!!! I would love to see the effects of this gun against armour. God keep you sir
Hey Sir, you do know about the "Everything Black Powder" YT channel right?? I know you said that you can't make your own, but these guys are making their own, and have been doing a lot of experiments. Their goal is to beat Swiss for power and cleanliness, and they have succeeded multiple times. This would be a good source for ongoing experimental archaeology. If there are things that you want to see done, such as replicating a 16th century French powder recipe, I'm sure the guys at Everything Black Powder would be super excited to hear from you and extremely willing to do your experiments for you! Keep up the good work.
My thought of how/when this could be useful: as an emergency secondary weapon. You're guarding the wagon train & you have a bunch of these preloaded. A few guys grab & light while hiding behind cover to send a bunch of metal in the direction of the raiders in question. A bunch of noise, flying metal, smoke and confusion is created while others race over to help. You still (in theory) have an aimable shot left in the barrel. In an era where it was possible for people to be unfamiliar with firearms, uncertain about size of guns, number of guns, etc, may have been enough to drive off a less determined opponent.
Battlefield use, maybe not; but I can see a utility to it (at least in theory) within what is known of the era.
I mean actually the Hussite wagon forts did more or less that strategy to excellent effect
I guess it works better with cannons. The Feuerwerkbuch describes it for bombards and does not use gunpowder but sulphur candles for the drillholes of the projectiles which are naturally larger than the slugs for the handgonne leading to a significantly longer delay. The sealing is also easier to control since the calking is applied directly by hand. The anonymous author also puts great emphasis on both proper sealing and the difference between meal and corned powder (also warning about the dangers of air gaps between powder and projectile).
Thank you for your research and for sharing with us! 👍
I was waiting for this video, great job. Discovering old technology is what I love. This videos and test should be saved and shown in museums for better understanding old weaponry and battle tactics.
I was looking forward to seeing this too. Super interesting
Imagine being a crossbowman's shield barer and suddenly getting double-tapped without even knowing what a double-tap is. Just the sound of that bang-bang is so different from how other black-powder guns typically sound. Even if the slugs don't have the power to get through your jack and gambeson after punching through the pavise you'd still be flat on your back wondering what just happened.
Perhaps you need to look up how the Chambers flintlock machinegun charges managed their reliable delay in firing each charge
May I recommend the channel everything black powder their experiments in making powder are illuminating
Apparently Cottonelle toilet paper and now Osage makes the most powerful black powder.
A wonderful presentation!
Outstanding content, as always! Thank you :)
Your Videos and as well your character are so lovely… this Enthusiasm is great! I really enjoy every single Video!
Greetings from Germany
Kai
Thanks again for more excellent content!
Great video. Glad people are carrying on research into medieval fiearms (which I did back in the early 2000's) Unfortunately at the time it was too difficult for me to move onto experimentation like you have. Well done!
Another excellent video, keep up the good work!
Always a treat! Thanks for another wonderful video
this is honestly one of the coolest things i've ever seen any gun channel do, ever. i honestly wonder if this was ever used in any specific battles or conflicts featuring handgonnes or other early blackpowder weapons - though, considering superimposed load weapons are quite uncommonly seen or talked about anywhere - i'd assume that they weren't particularly popular.
unironically starting to wonder if this would technically count as a fully automatic firearm under US law, as if you consider the fuse to be the "trigger", then this does indeed discharge multiple rounds (with a significant delay, instead of all at once like some of the failed attempts featured in this video or stuff like shotguns) per activation of the trigger - though i heavily doubt this should really count considering no criminal ever would ever want to spend that much time reloading LOL
i would love to see more content about lesser-known historic weapons / weapon designs such as these - as mentioned earlier i love this kind of stuff and i really hope you continue to make more cool stuff like this!!! :D
Excellent work My friend!
Fascinating, thanks for the link to the Leeds University tests, I will review that information. I was born in Yorkshire the same county in England as Leeds.
"This is my boomstick!"- Army of Darkness
It was so satisfying seeing this work!
Love your videos man. I can feel your passion for black powder gunnery.
29:19 There's something fascinating about the most ancient and primitive type of firearm firing as quickly and with a similar sound and look to doing a double tap with a modern semi-automatic firearm
First time i have seen you that happy hahahaha cheers friend!
Excellent series!
It may be easier and more reliable if you drill multiple touch holes into the barrel, one for each charge, so you can shoot 3 bullets independently.
Of course the touch holes need covers, so they dont ignite from the sparks of the other touch holes
Very entertaining video! I can almost hear the footsteps of those 15th century R&D guys running for the hills after they lit the fuse - and the surprise and excitement when it finally worked!
Also with plenty of giggles, and most certainly it started with hold my ale
Excellent content, I really enjoyed this video.
Excellent video. There is just something ellegent about muzzle-loading firearms. I think it is the entire ritual you must perform in order to fire one (or two😉) shots...
Congratulations, I'm afraid there will be a third part... Good luck.🙂
Excellent at always
How about you put the fuse into the last pierce-through bullet and instead of having black powder ignited, the fuse will initiate the firing sequence. The fuse should burn the powder behind the last bullet and it shouldn't go boom.
...as always, a very nice video!!!😀
Excellent!
When lighting from the muzzle instead of the breech I assumed balls of steel were used in place of lead.
Excellent 👍
That is really interesting and honestly awesome.
Great video, glad I'm early!
Magnificent. Continuing great work!
However I must confess, I do yearn to see a half dozen shots fire off like a machine gun.
I think if made reliable, it most definitely would be practical as an ambush weapon or for use in siege warfare. In this context, the long preparation time is not an issue.
Alternatively, the other option is to have a gun with many vents, correlating with the internal charges; each ignited manually. (which might be more reliable)
@@Archaic-Arms There were guns sold to the east India trading company that worked this way.
Still playing Medieval 2 total war, love the hand gunners and with pike men they are perfect against any enemies.
Crossbowmen included?
@@GaiusCaligula234
If you start as milan first you go Crossbow Spearman then pike men crossbow plus Trebuchet, eventually you get to gunners, Arquebusiers then musketeers.
Fascinating, thanks.
Interesting to find out the severe limitations of powder at the time, it changes how one has to think about the warfare of the period quite a lot.
Nice work
The slow motion of the two shots was great
You're so close 😮
Think about it from the hand-gonners point of view.😊
There's no way they could prepare charged projectiles in the field. They would have been prepared ahead of time by making a powder paste and then drying them beside a heat source like a chimney
This is almost identical to the process in fireworks manufacturing and used because it works.
I think these modifications will have the desired effect and would explain why a single-shot weapon, no matter how loud could be effective.
I love ❤️ experimental archeology in the beautiful bright Hungrish language😅🍻
Hi, did you try to replace the (miniscule) compressed powder charge in the projectiles' touch hole with a short piece of fuze between the loads? Might add a somewhat longer delay time between shots. But - as always, outstanding content and enthusiasm ! Carry on, please ! How did you make the drilled slugs ?
This is a fantastic example of the European use of the word corn prior to it's current usage meaning new world corn aka maize.
It seems like it would be more reliable if the hole in the slug were filled with a piece of fast match cord.
It also might be possible to seal around the slugs with wax and tallow as opposed to patches, though the latter probably work better.
sick! hope you succeed
If I understand correctly, in Hungary you are allowed to distill your own liquor, tax-free, but you are not allowed to make your own black powder.😄That's still better than here in Belgium, both are prohibited.
that was amazing
Thank you for this very informative and funny report.👍😊👍 It would be interesting to know what happened in the Middle Ages until they had the right powder mixtures. But that was probably not recorded.🤕 Some people had powder mixtures that were very close to what we have today.🤔
So awesome!!! Thank you!!! Arrows?!!!
A weapon that almost defeted a master.
Amazing video! I really wonder if they used this system in volley guns. If so, it would be a medieval machine gun even it would not be very reliable in combat
How do you make your repeating balls? The best I could figure, was to pour hot lead into a pipe, and then push it out with some kind of rod. Then if it were me, I would cut them to length, and drill a hole. That would probably mean remounting a bunch of little bits of lead. So the only other thing I can think of would be to run a wire down the pipe?
Is there a purpose to charging the first load with serpentine powder if it's going to be ignited separately through the touch-hole?
Excellent work!
Would threading a fuse through each lead ball work? Like suppose you had a fuse threaded through the first one, dumped some powder in and shook the whole thing to settle the powder, and then used a slim stick instead of a ramrod, or some kind of tube that could go around the fuse to tamp down the second shot, and then repeat the process that way? It might be more time-consuming, but it would mean a consistent burn time with a fuse going all the way through the shots. I'm not sure if it would work. If you try it, please let us know.
kingdom come deliverance 2 needs to take notes
do you have any more information on the military codex you reference?
How about using some fuse cord with extra oxidizer as a bullet plug? Seems there may be a lack of oxygen deep in the barrel. Just an idea.
Congratulations, sir, you managed to prove a concept is working as the manuscript described.
What's next? Testing self-priming?
Anyone know how to say "ho ho ho, now I have a machine gun" in Old Hunglish?
Also, as I have watched your videos recently, I'd like to ask something. There was one about two nice wheellock pistols, which you said were made by Polish gunsmith - does he have any social media site, or shop site, or anything? I would like to find this dude, as such old firearms are on my long "to buy" list, but I couldn't find anybody by the name you provided in the video which sounded like "Piotr Ziółko"
12:50 Ive seen the Videos from Spridonov years ago but i cant find them anymore. Do you know where they are available?
One thing I've been wondering watching these videos is how do you go about unloading the handgonne after a failed firing or test especially when you are creating very tight fits in the bore
The first charge is flooded with water through the touch hole, the ones above that are flooded from the muzzle. All bullets are drilled throughs, so water can get to all the charges. When I removed the balls, the powder was quite wet.
When it comes to the over the shoulder shooting position, would they have had something that would act as a fuse in order to have some form of aim or would they have entirely depended on either slower burning powder or another guy to set off the touch hole? Also, is it possible that some of these Medieval Repeaters (if they worked) wouldn't have had a breech touch hole due to it being unnecessary and powder getting forced out during ramming, or would they still have one because single shot would still be desirable in certain circumstances? (Sorry that this is quite long, I'm genuinely curious) finally, Chinese Snow is one heck of a nickname for saltpeter!
I wonder if the method in the codex you are attmepting is a way to launch multable projectiles without loading them over a single powder charge like we would do conventually in a more modern musket and therefore not having big pressure spikes all at once in the fragile cast iron weapons of the day. It may not have to do so much with it going off in sequence like a Roman candle.
how do the professionals make this principle work every time [ firework makers] they might have a few tricks that would help
A golyók oldalába vágnék és ott vezetném végig a kanócot. Akár papírcsőbe előgyártva, egyben letuszkolva?
Maybe you could try mixing modern and old black powders.
Great for burning your opponent's eyebrows 😂
Now that’s a real hand cannon🎉🎉🎉😂😊😊
Mostly makes sense for volley fire
30:47 to see if it is *repeatable*
Sweeeeeeeet!
Taking in consideration the Medieval build quality, tolerances and material technology, I don't think that overloading of a barrel of fire weapon would be good for health...especially in combat where the powder measuring and safety precautions would be out of the window. Still a interesting proof of concept.
This is a great channel. If I may make a suggestion (that was also made to me countless of times) I would suggest that you try to speak a bit slower, that will make much easier for us to understand. Thank you very much!
First shot weak. Propably reason is the shortes barrel. Serpent powder (my favorite) burn realy slow, so that process continuos in barrel when projectile start fly away. Long barrel serpent powder burning in barrel increase quantity of gases. Short barrels lots of serpentpowder end burning in air out of barrel less gases, weaker shot.
Medieval AN-94
Is making your own powder allowed in Hungary?
Third video please, you need try it more, try use wax or other things to seal the bullet instead of paper
14:20 oh, körte palinka, that's some medicine you are wasting there :)
I know... so sad. Please don't tell it to my colleaugues at the University. They'll kill me for that. :D
Ye olde burst fire
Perhaps dismantle a current day Roman candle firework to see how they do it?
Good Sunday morning to everyone. Appreciate the video 💥Hay everyone please let Jesus Christ into your life and heart for he is the answer ✝️🙏