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19th Century Grenade Launcher

siegfreid

siegfreid

HONOURED MEMBER RIP
Premium Member
Someone sent this photo to me for appraisal & I thought I'd share it on BOCN . I've never seen one before but , apparently , it's a German mid 19th century grenade/mortar launcher attachment for a muzzle loaded musket . Anyone seen the likes of this in the flesh ? Thanks , Mike.
 

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Not as decorated but heres some flintlock grenade dischargers on display at the royal armouries in Leeds
 

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Very interesting, anyone any photos of the type of grenade that was used in these??

regards Kev
 
Kev. I was thinking about that . Could they have fired those small 2Pr land service fuzed cannon balls with a wooden sabot on the base ? Mike.
 
LandService.jpg
siegfreid said:
Someone sent this photo to me for appraisal & I thought I'd share it on BOCN . I've never seen one before but , apparently , it's a German mid 19th century grenade/mortar launcher attachment for a muzzle loaded musket . Anyone seen the likes of this in the flesh ? Thanks , Mike.
Click to expand...

Mike,

I have seen two of this chunky pattern and the view of the owner (RFD and serious collector of weapons) was that they were in the 'made yesterday' category. The Royal Armouries collection (which now includes the old Pattern Room collection) has examples of early British cup dischargers with much thinner barrels. The grenade used was a simple spherical shell of the sort shown in the photo, which is the British Grenade, Hand, Land Service, 3-Pr, which, before you imagine firing a 3 pound grenade off of the end of a musket weighed about 1lb 13oz (3-Pr is the 'calibre' rather than weight).
 
Thanks Norman ! I thought it looked to good to be true . Just goes to show how careful you have to be with some of these things . Mike
 
Amazing co-incidence. Yesterday one of my customers was saying he had one!

John
 
Bonnex said:
The grenade used was a simple spherical shell of the sort shown in the photo, which is the British Grenade, Hand, Land Service, 3-Pr, which, before you imagine firing a 3 pound grenade off of the end of a musket weighed about 1lb 13oz (3-Pr is the 'calibre' rather than weight).
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Recoil must have been horrendous!

John
 
Mike,

I didn't mean to imply that the cup couldn't be real under any circumstances, just that there are copies out there and to be cautious. Given the scarcity of these things even a replica (subject to its status under the Firearms Act) would be welcome addition to a collection.
 
Norman . Thanks again but it transpires that it would be about 2 grand & that's definitely outside my comfort zone...!!! Mike.
 
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