16th Century "Mall Ninja shit"
Forgotten Weapons
This is a community dedicated to discussion around historical arms, mechanically unique arms, and Ian McCollum's Forgotten Weapons content. Posts requesting an identification of a particular gun (or other arm) are welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/@ForgottenWeapons
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/
Rules:
1) Treat Others in a Civil Manner. This is not the place to deride others for their race, sexuality, or etc. Personal insults of other members are not welcome here. Neither are calls for violence.
2) No Contemporary Politics Historical politics that influenced designs or adoption of designs are excluded from this rule. Acknowledgement of existing laws to explain designs is also permissable, so long as comments aren't in made to advocate or oppose a policy. Let's not make this a place where we battle over which color ties our politicians should have, or the issues of today.
3) No Advertising This rule doesn't apply to posting historical advertisements or showing more contemporary ads as a means of displaying information on an appropriate topic. The aim of this rule is to combat spam/irrelevant advertising campaigns.
4) Keep Post on Topic This rule will be enforced with leeway. Just keep it related to arms or Forgotten Weapons or closely adjacent content. If you feel you have something that's worth posting here that isn't about either of those (and doesn't violate other rules) feel free to reach out to a mod.
5) No NSFW Content Please refrain from posting uncensored extreme gore or sexualized content. If censored these posts may be fine.
Post Guide Lines
These are suggestions not rules.
-Provide a duration for videos. eg. [12:34]
-Provide a year to either indicate when a specific design was produced, patented, or released. If you have an older design being used in a recent conflict provide the year the picture was taken. Dates should be included to help contextualize, not necessarily give exact periods.
-Post a full URL, on mobile devices it can be hard to tell what you're clicking on if you only see "(Link)".
-Posts do not have to be just firearms. Blades, bows, etc. are also welcome.
Adjacent Communities
If you run a community that you feel might fit in dm a mod and we might add your's.
Want to Find a Museum Near You? Check out the mega thread: https://lemmy.world/post/9699481
Don't forget to unload before chopping trees... That would suck.
I don't think it's for trees
Trees, heads ¯\('-')/¯ Won't make much difference with a lead ball burried in your face
How are you pointing the axe head at yourself while chopping?
Pretty sure the head is the stock and the handle is the barrel.
/edit: based on the other picture, perhaps not. Either way seems like a pretty poor design really.
I am Groot?
I think id really prefer the pointy side and the boom side be the same side...
It is. The barrel is quite short.
Oh, got it. Assumed the whole length was a barrel.
Shit, with the barrel that short I think the hatchet is the better bet
According to some cursory searching and Wikipedia referencing (so take the credibility at your own peril), axe guns were primarily thought of as axes, and the firearm part was secondary.
The Swedish navy issued axe gun has a more practical profile than the ornate gun in the OP, if that gives an idea how such an idea might be practical.
Bullpup shotaxe
Pretty sure it isn't. Apart from not being a very logical placement:
- The hammer points downwards and has to be pulled back to cock it
- The Axe head is shaped in a way as to provide a shoulder stock
- If the end of the barrel was on the upper end instead of the lower end, it would be practically useless
Perhaps we are talking past each other. I have marked the barrel and direction of shot.
Looks like the barrel is on the same side.
Probably made by someone like this:
I like swords!
* heavy breathing in dwarvish *
I'm no axeologist but I feel like the axe head can't withstand much whacking before bending and would block the barrel. Thankfully it's probably just a wall hanger.
Amateur axeologist here.
This isn't your "I'm going to chop down a tree" tool. The head of this thing was either for messing fools up, or for busting brush, not heavy use.
Given that, the structural weakness is worth it in this case. Pushing the axe head a little farther out lengthens the "handle" (gun) and provides more leverage. That leverage comes in handy when hacking through both bushes and fools.
Straight outta some final fantasy.
I saw a ton of these in Prague castle. Gun-axes, gun-swords, gun-knives. Also a child sized suit of armor.
I'm imagining children jousting in tiny suits of armor on goats
Gun blade?
It looks a bit fancy but it was common for muskets to be used as clubs when they'd been fired and there was no time to reload. I guess bayonets are the modern variant of this idea.
I'm no expert on this corner of history, so take this for what it's worth, but military issued axe guns, and guns with bayonets existed at the overlapping times.
If I recall correctly, bayonets were an outgrowth of pike and shot warfare, where eventually the duties of the pike were taken over by the bayonet in infantry use in open field warfare.
Axe guns were used by cavalry, which makes sense as a short and swingable weapon; axe guns were issued to naval troops as boarding weapons, which makes sensible for the close quarter combat compared to a bayonet on a musket.
Kislev.