Wall Gun
Various Gunsmiths · Rifle · Discontinued · 1500
Also known as: Wall Piece, Rampart Gun, Amusette, Hackbut
Overview
A wall gun is an oversized large-bore musket, essentially a scaled-up infantry firearm too heavy to fire from the shoulder, mounted on a fortress wall, rampart, ship's rail, or boat bow via a swivel hook and pivoted to aim. Bridging the firepower gap between the standard musket and the lightest artillery, it fired a roughly one-inch lead ball to several hundred yards, far beyond the reach of an ordinary musket. Most surviving 18th-century examples are flintlocks, though earlier matchlock and wheellock variants existed and some were rifled. The French term amusette, coined by Marshal Maurice de Saxe, denoted a lighter wall gun.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 16800 g (592.6 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1854 mm (72.99") |
| Barrel Length | 1384 mm (54.49") |
| Action Type | Muzzleloader |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 1 rounds |
| Effective Range | 460 m (503 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 915 m (1001 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Smoothbore |
| Frame Material | Wood |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Stock Material | Wood |
Calibers
- Wall Gun Bore (~1 inch) · primary — also known as 5 bore, rampart ball, 1-inch musket ball
Features
- Firing modes: Manual
- Feed systems: Single Shot
- Features: Swivel Mounted, Single Shot, Flintlock, Large Bore, Rampart Defense
Variants
- Amusette — Light French Pattern
Service history
Operators
- British Army · as Wall Piece
- Royal Navy
- Continental Army · adopted 1776 · as Rifle-Amusette
Conflicts
- American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
Production
Production years: 1500-1840
Built in small numbers by arsenals and gunsmiths across Europe; American examples were made at James Hunter's Rappahannock Forge in Virginia
Origin
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Discontinued: 1840
Notes
Country of origin is genuinely pan-European; GB is chosen as the best-documented (British wall piece / Brown Bess pattern rampart gun). The amusette term is specifically French. Made by national arsenals and private gunsmiths; no single maker. Specs are a representative composite based on the British P-1738/72 5-bore rampart gun (~16.8kg, ~1854mm, ~23.8mm bore) and the typical Continental amusette (heavier, ~30mm bore). Catalogued as rifle; many were smoothbore but some, like Charles Lee's rifle-amusettes, were rifled.
Background
The name amusette, a diminutive of the French amusement coined by Marshal de Saxe, belied a brutal long-range weapon: General Charles Lee wrote in 1776 that his rifled amusettes could hit a half sheet of paper at 500 yards, prizing them as early sniping arms. Mounted on a swivel, a wall gun could be pivoted to sweep an entire approach from a wall, a ship's rail, or the bow of a rowboat.