this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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Historical Artifacts
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Just a community for everyone to share artifacts, reconstructions, or replicas for the historically-inclined to admire!
Generally, an artifact should be 100+ years old, but this is a flexible requirement if you find something rare and suitably linked to an era of history, not a strict rule. Anything over 100 is fair game regardless of rarity.
Generally speaking, ruins should go to [email protected]
Illustrations of the past should go to [email protected]
Photos of the past should go to [email protected]
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I'm curious to know the reason for the heptagonal shape of the cannons!
I've heard different answers as to why smoothbores sometimes have that barrel shape. Ease of forging is one I've heard, but I've also heard barrel strength or ease of placing sights. Hopefully someone can add a more informed opinion!
Easier to push a ball down a barrel with air gaps. If you have a soft metal it will deform to the hex shape on firing. Less reliable than actual rifling though and the time savings wasn't worth keeping it. Of note that may have been the later reasoning when rifling was easier and getting more common.
That said, I've always kind of wanted a hexagonal shotgun.