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.
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!
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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...
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
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.🤔
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)
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.
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.
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 ?
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
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😅🍻
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"
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.
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!
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!
