Swivel Gun
Various Gunsmiths · Rifle · Out Of Production · 1400
Also known as: Falconet, Peterero, Verso, Port-Piece, Robinet
Overview
A swivel gun is one of the smallest types of cannon: a small-bore mounted black-powder gun set on a swiveling U-shaped yoke whose foot drops into a socket on a ship's rail, a fort wall, or a boat stanchion. It is aimed by hand with a wooden tiller projecting from the breech, giving a very wide arc of traverse and elevation. Straddling the cannon and firearm boundary, it served as a crew-served anti-personnel piece firing a small ball of roughly a quarter to one pound, or more often grapeshot and clustered musket balls, to sweep boarders and approaching boats at close range. Both muzzleloading and early interchangeable-chamber breech-loading versions existed.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 45000 g (1587.3 oz) |
| Overall Length | 900 mm (35.43") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Effective Range | 300 m (328 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Smoothbore |
| Frame Material | Wrought Iron |
| Barrel Material | Bronze |
Calibers
- Swivel Gun Bore (~1.5 inch) · primary — also known as half-pounder, falconet bore, grapeshot
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Single Shot
- Features: Swivel Mounted, Single Shot, Black Powder, Grapeshot Capable, Anti Personnel
Variants
- Falconet — Small Swivel Cannon
- Breech-Loading Swivel Gun — Interchangeable Chamber
Service history
Operators
- Royal Navy
- Merchant Ships and Privateers
Production
Production years: 1400-1850
Cast or wrought by many foundries and gunsmiths over four centuries; no single production line
Origin
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Discontinued: 1850
Notes
Origin is genuinely pan-European and worldwide (Europe, Ottoman Empire, China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia); GB is a defensible representative label for the well-documented English wrought-iron naval swivel gun. Includes the falconet and breech-loading peterero/verso/port-piece types. Bore, weight, and length vary widely by specimen; ~38mm bore, ~45kg, ~0.9m are representative midpoints. Catalogued as rifle as the closest available long-gun classification; it is more properly a light gun bridging cannon and firearm.
Background
The swivel gun was primarily an anti-personnel weapon, usually loaded with grapeshot, langrage, or clustered musket balls that turned it into a giant shotgun to sweep enemy boarding parties off a deck rather than to hole a hull. Lightweight and easily aimed, it became the favored gun of small craft, riverboats, and pirates alike, and the Lewis and Clark expedition carried one up the Missouri in 1804.