"Oldest US firearm unearthed in Arizona" Topic

Independent researchers in Arizona have unearthed a bronze cannon linked to the Vázquez de Coronado expedition

link

Now there's a scenario!

Kewl!!

It has sprue marks!

Cool find, but is a canon considered a firearm?

"It has sprue marks!"

LOL! Hopefully the flashing on it wasn't too bad! ;)

The author doesn't help by calling it both a firearm and a canon.

Wow, the builder didn't even attempt to file down the sprue marks. How gauche.

Probably didn't bother to prime it, either. Philistines!

The wall guns wee either large hand guns or small cannon. Take your choice.

It's not exactly a handgun, is it?

More a bazooka

"Draw!"
"Un momento, por favor!"

Jingal

Sometimes referred to as a wall gun, the unearthed cannon was an early type of firearm requiring two people to operate. Designed primarily for use along fortification walls, the expedition reportedly utilized them as an offensive weapon to breach wooden or light adobe walls of domestic dwellings in the cities they encountered.

Measuring 42 inches in length and weighing about 40 pounds, the cannon type would typically make use of a large wooden tripod.

M-2 machine gun weighs about 80 pounds and uses a tripod.

Mk 19 grenade launcher, which is arguably a portable cannon, weighs almost as much as the M-2 and uses a tripod.

The wall gun, like most early cannons, was intended for direct fire.

So I think it's OK to call it a firearm.

Very cool. Although I could do without the negative tone of the article: "went in search of these legendary cities in hopes of stealing gold and precious stones, claiming land and enslaving large populations for forced labor."

After all, what do you think the natives were doing at this point in history? <cough, cough> Aztecs anyone?

I also wonder about this line at the end, "This discovery provides the first known firearm from the Coronado expedition and offers insights into early Spanish-Native American interactions in the Southwest."

After all, how many insights can you get from an unfired cannon? I think this line is standard one added to all 'academic' papers without even thinking about it.

Well, "insights" is the preliminary to "We need more funding/grants to further study this subject."
;-)

Insight: 1.) It was heavy to lug around and didn't wind up having any necessary military use.
2.) The natives had no idea what to do with it, either.
3.) Despite its obvious cost, the soldiers reached a point where that cost had ceased to matter, and "getting a frickin' move on*" became the higher concern of the day.

*Only expressed in Spanish.

After you've eaten the mules, who's going to carry it?

It's main use was probably to make loud noises to scare the natives. If one actually got hit by it and was splattered all over the place, that would certainly amplify it's terror effects on the rest… ;-)