Gentlemen,
I am about to "swallow some frogs" and take my hat to those who have sugested that this would be part of a hand cannon.
Just look at the following input, posted by a kind member from the Traditional Muzzleloading Forum:
By the size of it, it appears to be a barrel from a handcannon, I have 2 replica's of one's that were copied from a German example from the 1450's. This was mounted on a short pole 1' to 4' depending on the length of the barrel, mine has a 10" barrel on an 16" pole. The pole has a shallow groove cut in one side about 2" shorter than the barrel, it was then bound to the pole with 3 iron bands, The touchhole on top, you would then fire it with a length of slowmatch. The pole was generaly tucked under the arm to hold it. The metal appears to be cast iron, the thin metal liner was made to create a smoother bore and the iron was cast around it.I would suspect that it was made very early 16th century. I hope this is helpfull. .
It all sugests that i can now follow the right track, don't you Gentlemen think so ?
Fernando
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