A huge breech chamber, ca. 1540
I sold this a few weeks ago:
46 cm long, bore 4 cm, weight 54 kilograms (!) - remember it's just a powder chamber that was closed by a wooden plug. The bullet(s) were shoved in the barrel from the rear before the breech piece was put in and secured by wooden or iron wedges.
It originally belonged to a big breech-loading cannon like the ones found on the Mary Rose of Henry VIII that sank in 1545 - see b/w illustration.
Michael
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