First large scale use of hand-held firearms (handgonnes) in war: The Hussite Wars

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - First large scale use of hand-held firearms (handgonnes) in war: The Hussite Wars

Posted: 4/16/2016 2:01:15 PM EDT

a.k.a. The Bohemian Wars, 1419-1434.

Featured the use of the war wagon, a train of heavily-built wagons with firing ports chained together. Handgonners would fire from inside.

They also had drop-down plates under the bottom to prevent enemy soldiers from crawling under the wagons to get inside.

Depending on the terrain Hussites prepared the carts to the battle forming them in square or circle. The carts were joined by means of the chain (wheel to wheel). Therefore the carts were located aslant (their corners attached to each other) in order to allow, if necessary, to harness the horses quickly. . In front of this wall of carts a ditch was dug by camp followers. The crew of each cart consists of 18-21 soldiers: 4-8 crossbowmen, 2 handgunners, 6-8 soldiers equipped with polearms and flails (flail was Hussite "national weapon"), 2 shield carries and 2 drivers. The wagons also had a little pocket of rocks in case the soldiers ran out of ammunition.

There were two different handguns used by the Hussites. One was called the "trestle gun"(nicknamed the hook gun) and it was used as field artillery on the wagons. The trestle gun was so heavy that it required a hook to the wagon, hence its nickname. The other gun was called the pistala (from the Czech word for flute, because of its shape, possibly became the word "pistol" in English).

View Quote

http://allempires.com/article/index.php?q=hussite_wars

A modern handgonne being fired.

Posted: 4/16/2016 2:02:52 PM EDT

[#1]

F*** it I'm handfonning

Seriously, cool find OP.

Posted: 4/16/2016 2:48:24 PM EDT

[#2]

I should get a handgonne...

Posted: 4/16/2016 2:49:50 PM EDT

[#3]

Original Driveby.

Pretty cool stuff.

Posted: 4/16/2016 6:18:24 PM EDT

[#4]

Someone's been spending too much time at the Renaissance Faire...

Posted: 4/16/2016 7:45:12 PM EDT

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
I should get a handgonne...

View Quote

I have handgonnes, they are lots of fun. Not gonna win any long range matches but combat distances (7-15 yards) you can put one into center mass of a man-sized silhouette often enough to make it a fearsome weapon.

Reloading drills are timed with a sundial . . .

Posted: 4/16/2016 8:02:50 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:

I should get a handgonne...

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

I should get a handgonne...

So get one. They're cheap.

Quoted:

Original Driveby.

Not many people realize the thug life is of medieval origin.

Quoted:

Someone's been spending too much time at the Renaissance Faire...

I've never been to one. I'm into the history of guns, not living a fantasy.

Besides, I don't think gunpowder weapons are allowed at those things.

Posted: 4/16/2016 10:11:00 PM EDT

[#7]

Posted: 4/17/2016 5:01:46 PM EDT

[#8]

You kinda forgot the other hussite gun - howitzer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCPl_U9BX4

Posted: 4/17/2016 8:59:16 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
You kinda forgot the other hussite gun - howitzer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCPl_U9BX4

View Quote

I didn't forget. Read the thread title and OP again. This is about handheld firearms.

This guy does a short demo of firing shots quickly. Not bad considering he's also doing it in the rain.

A line of experienced handgonners could keep up a good rate of fire.

Posted: 4/17/2016 9:02:46 PM EDT

[#10]

Nice, thanks for sharing!

Posted: 4/17/2016 10:01:31 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:

I didn't forget. Read the thread title and OP again. This is about handheld firearms.

This guy does a short demo of firing shots quickly. Not bad considering he's also doing it in the rain.

A line of experienced handgonners could keep up a good rate of fire.

https://youtu.be/AD6SbAzdvc8

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
You kinda forgot the other hussite gun - howitzer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taCPl_U9BX4

I didn't forget. Read the thread title and OP again. This is about handheld firearms.

This guy does a short demo of firing shots quickly. Not bad considering he's also doing it in the rain.

A line of experienced handgonners could keep up a good rate of fire.

https://youtu.be/AD6SbAzdvc8

I grit my teeth every time he dumped a charge down that hot barrel. I was waiting for him to get a ramrod shot through his hand.

ETA: Too late tonight, but tomorrow I will post pics of my .25 caliber micro-gonne.

It will fire either a patched #4 buckshot pellet (serious punch), or a reduced charge behind an airsoft BB for less destructive target practice.

Posted: 4/17/2016 10:06:51 PM EDT

[#12]

I almost bought an original one (minor remnants of original wood, heavy corrosion to metal), but it ended up going for like $2k. Too rich for something no one would recognize on the wall.

They're so cool, though.

Posted: 4/17/2016 10:50:21 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

ETA: Too late tonight, but tomorrow I will post pics of my .25 caliber micro-gonne.

It will fire either a patched #4 buckshot pellet (serious punch), or a reduced charge behind an airsoft BB for less destructive target practice.

View Quote

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

Posted: 4/17/2016 11:06:46 PM EDT

[#14]

Oh and incidentally Smashy, thanks for posting this thread, last night I had a massive case of insomnia combined with writer's block so it lead me to read all manner of interesting stuff about the Hussite Wars to distract myself.

Posted: 4/17/2016 11:10:59 PM EDT

[#15]

Anytime.

Posted: 4/18/2016 9:09:13 AM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

ETA: Too late tonight, but tomorrow I will post pics of my .25 caliber micro-gonne.

It will fire either a patched #4 buckshot pellet (serious punch), or a reduced charge behind an airsoft BB for less destructive target practice.

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

Here's my smallest, a brass .32

Posted: 4/19/2016 7:24:17 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

ETA: Too late tonight, but tomorrow I will post pics of my .25 caliber micro-gonne.

It will fire either a patched #4 buckshot pellet (serious punch), or a reduced charge behind an airsoft BB for less destructive target practice.

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this. Couldn't find my bottle of #4 buckshot pellets and didn't want to cut open a new shell.

Took these a little while ago . . .

I also made the aluminum powder measure .

Here are a couple of old pics showing the socket details. The screw thread pulls the wood into the socket and holds it fast without visible screws. The brass trim is simply an oxygen hose ferrule with the center opened up to the diameter of the socket . . .

Because the whole thing is so small, for acceptable scale the vent is only 1/16" diameter. It uses a very thin stiff fuse called cross-match visco, which is sold on Skylighter.com.

It can also be primed (carefully) with 4F priming powder, but any coarser granulation won't work.

Fired with a short piece of fuse . . .

Posted: 4/19/2016 7:30:52 PM EDT

[#18]

The flag on that wagon would be pretty popular with at least one member here.

Posted: 4/19/2016 7:34:40 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

Sorry it took so long to get back to this. Couldn't find my bottle of #4 buckshot pellets and didn't want to cut open a new shell.

Took these a little while ago . . .

http://www.fototime.com/926CA1C8BE5C093/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/5B0522516EA23BF/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/2D8AA8E02A2B980/orig.jpg

I also made the aluminum powder measure .

Here are a couple of old pics showing the socket details. The screw thread pulls the wood into the socket and holds it fast without visible screws. The brass trim is simply an oxygen hose ferrule with the center opened up to the diameter of the socket . . .

http://www.fototime.com/991A3716EAAE5AF/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/34C54D25D503F50/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/F81C6FFF4345414/medium800.jpg

Because the whole thing is so small, for acceptable scale the vent is only 1/16" diameter. It uses a very thin stiff fuse called cross-match visco, which is sold on Skylighter.com.

It can also be primed (carefully) with 4F priming powder, but any coarser granulation won't work.

Fired with a short piece of fuse . . .

http://www.fototime.com/445B1BC30C40FAD/orig.jpg

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

ETA: Too late tonight, but tomorrow I will post pics of my .25 caliber micro-gonne.

It will fire either a patched #4 buckshot pellet (serious punch), or a reduced charge behind an airsoft BB for less destructive target practice.

Yeah, I'd like to see that.

Sorry it took so long to get back to this. Couldn't find my bottle of #4 buckshot pellets and didn't want to cut open a new shell.

Took these a little while ago . . .

http://www.fototime.com/926CA1C8BE5C093/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/5B0522516EA23BF/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/2D8AA8E02A2B980/orig.jpg

I also made the aluminum powder measure .

Here are a couple of old pics showing the socket details. The screw thread pulls the wood into the socket and holds it fast without visible screws. The brass trim is simply an oxygen hose ferrule with the center opened up to the diameter of the socket . . .

http://www.fototime.com/991A3716EAAE5AF/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/34C54D25D503F50/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/F81C6FFF4345414/medium800.jpg

Because the whole thing is so small, for acceptable scale the vent is only 1/16" diameter. It uses a very thin stiff fuse called cross-match visco, which is sold on Skylighter.com.

It can also be primed (carefully) with 4F priming powder, but any coarser granulation won't work.

Fired with a short piece of fuse . . .

http://www.fototime.com/445B1BC30C40FAD/orig.jpg

That looks cool. I'd have fun with that.