A Coronado gun

Jim McDougall · 25th February 2023, 05:52 PM

Fernando, thank you so much for extracting these pages from the link and posting them for ease in reading this fascinating article. The author notes that the conservation and analysis of this gun hopes to determine if it was forged in Mexico or in Spain.
While these rampart guns could of course be forged in a relatively conservative blacksmith setting, it remains in my opinion too complex of a job to have been done in these early times in Mexico. There was a notable absence of highly skilled armorers in these early expeditions, and those who had some skill in blacksmithing were limited as well as other tradesmen typically found on vessels.

This type of rampart gun was also of the type that became 'deck guns' aboard ships, and most likely this was taken from the vessel the expedition arrived on.
These guns often remained in use for not only generations, but even into centuries as did most artillery pieces. It was not uncommon to find various cannon etc. used in emplacements in settlements, but unusual to find such a heavy gun carried in a mobile expedition.

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25th February 2023, 05:52 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,194	Fernando, thank you so much for extracting these pages from the link and posting them for ease in reading this fascinating article. The author notes that the conservation and analysis of this gun hopes to determine if it was forged in Mexico or in Spain. While these rampart guns could of course be forged in a relatively conservative blacksmith setting, it remains in my opinion too complex of a job to have been done in these early times in Mexico. There was a notable absence of highly skilled armorers in these early expeditions, and those who had some skill in blacksmithing were limited as well as other tradesmen typically found on vessels. This type of rampart gun was also of the type that became 'deck guns' aboard ships, and most likely this was taken from the vessel the expedition arrived on. These guns often remained in use for not only generations, but even into centuries as did most artillery pieces. It was not uncommon to find various cannon etc. used in emplacements in settlements, but unusual to find such a heavy gun carried in a mobile expedition.