Need cannon ID

[Tiki3]

Hi!
New to this fine forum.. Need help in identifying this cannon. Previous owner said it was in family many, many years and came off of a British ship. So far I have been unable to confirm any info on this piece. Have completely removed paint and could not find any numbers, letters or marks. Few dimensions are;
Caliber 2 1/16"
Bore 25 3/4"
Cascabel 4 3/4"
Overall length 32"
Trunnion 2 1/16"
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanx, Tiki3

[Artilleryman]

My first impression is that if it doesn't have any markings it is most likely a reproduction.  Look to see if it has a barrel liner.  Welcome to the board.

[Cat Whisperer]

Tiki3 --

WELCOME to the board!

We're lookin' forward to pix of smoke and flame!

[ironball]

What is it made of? By the size, it looks more like a 3/4 scale Carronade. That doesn't rule out it coming from a British ship. I'll bet that many, if not most of the cannons on restored old ships are reproductions.

[Tiki3]

Nope, no barrel linner...all cast iron.

[cannonmn]

Harder to distinguish from a repro with the heavy coat of shiny paint, should have photo'd it bare, now the patina is gone and/or hidden.  However I think under that thick coat of new paint was an original English-made insurance swivel gun barrel.  I've never seen a repro that captured the little crownie thing and the caliber number (it is a 1 pounder like the 1 indicates.)

[Tiki3]

Thanx for the  reply, didn't know that was a #1 on top by the "Crown" thought it had something to do with the sighting, learn something new everyday.
Tiki3

[A.Roads]

Hi Tiki3, A nice barrel - with an authentic carriage it would make an impressive display in any den or lounge.
Firstly without a "hands on" inspection I would not say whether or not it is a reproduction - though I suspect that it is original - if original then it would present far better with an aged patina rather than a modern paint finish.
I believe that it is British made, the calibre is for a 1pr - such a small piece is either a very small deck gun or more likely a swivel gun - both quite useful for signaling etc. I'm fairly certain that it does not follow a set naval pattern, rather it is a generic pattern produced commercially for use by anyone, as it has a plain crown only with no royal cypher or govt marks. If original I would tend to ascribe a date range of 1820 - 1850, its not an exact science but the combination of its profile, the 3 rings at the muzzle, the trunnion shoulders & cascabel loop lean me towards the later decades of the muzzle loading ordnance era.
Adrian

[Tiki3]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, see by your bio your from down under. Without a doubt, the best country I've had the pleasure to visit, although some time ago. Sidney, great people and one of the few places still pro American. Sorry about the recent gun laws. Wish I had the resources to return for a longer stay.
Tiki3

[ironball]

Doesn't a swivel gun usually have a place to attach the monkey tail? The loop on the cascabel was usually put there to tie or hoist a gun, and most swivel guns could easily be hand carried.

[A.Roads]

Doesn't a swivel gun usually have a place to attach the monkey tail? The loop on the cascabel was usually put there to tie or hoist a gun, and most swivel guns could easily be hand carried.   Yes usually a swivel will have an extended cascabel, or a device added, to afford better management for aiming etc - however many examples of swivels exist that do not have such an arrangement. There are no hard & fast rules about what this gun could have been used for, however as a deck gun it is a "pea shooter" & would hardly justify the amount of space it would take up when it could be more readily mounted & used as a swivel - I would suggest that in such cases (small calibre guns) the cascabel loop is merely at the whim of the maker & hardly warranted as this size of gun could have its recoil arrested by just a swivel mounting, so perhaps this feature is there mainly to make it one better than a competitors products? Adrian