A few years back I asked LL, we were down at the range, "Are you a prepper?" He replied, "I am always prepared, so I am a prepper. But maybe preppers should take note. What if I turn up at your compound, your little fortress, with a trebuchet, what then?" Here's a video of what then, check it out:
Footage circulating on social media shows Israeli soldiers using a trebuchet to launch incendiaries at Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/PYMyCZcOWM
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 13, 2024
Hypnotic, do you not think?
Exactly, what then. Flaming balls of hell raining down on your position when cash for 155 doesn't work out. Well hey, maybe you should've thought twice about kidnapping all those girl hippies. Just saying.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
14 comments:
Thing about trebuchets (or treebuckets for those that like mispronouncing things) is they are not a big distance weapon. Yes, they can chunk stuff from outside most bow and crossbow ranges, but not out of rifle range.
And they have a large footprint, and take time to assemble, and tools to assemble.
Especially the ones that are large enough to toss a decent sized load.
Fun to play with, though.
Now, stone or spear throwing ballistae or onagers or other catapults can be transported and set up relatively quickly, have roughly the same range and take up less of a footprint. Though they don't throw as heavy a shot.
Eh.
You'd do well with a Civil War style siege mortar...
I think that I also said that I could make a decent shooting version of a 6-pound Napoleon gun on limbers (modern equipment, not a replica) that would toss a ball with great force into your fort.
Napoleons had a low muzzle velocity due to its smooth bore design. Its range was short, under one mile (1700 yards) for solid shot and less for shell (1300 yards). The caisson chests carried 32 rounds of the four types of ammunition. The powder charge used for solid and shell was usually 2 ½ pounds of black powder.
The 12-lb. Napoleon was the most commonly used gun of the Civil War. The Napoleon had an effective range of 1,000 yards and a range of 1,680 yards at five degrees elevation.
If you can get closer a mortar (13" or 15" exploding shell) is impactful. Modern steel (if available) makes them even lighter to move and stronger to contain the charge.
If you're just throwing something together, rifling isn't critical. And we're just spitballing here, but I could make a decent sabot round that I'm sure I could range out to 2,500 yards if I had some equipment to make them. So preppers who bunker up and feel secure, shouldn't if the King of the Battlefield arrives.
Ottsta get them Back across the river..
King of the Battle can reduce cover and halt advances towards you. Unless your opponent gives up, you still need to take the ground. Picket's Charge, anyone?
One of the BBC's better unknown shows was "By the Sword Divided," about the English Civil War and how it affected one family. Best scene ever was when the family's defenders shoveled a small howitzer full of nails and scrap and fired it at a bunch of pike and musketeers. Absolutely lovely. Looks like fun.
As to what LL said, yeah, rifling is the best but smoothbores aren't bad either. Especially with the modern high-pressure piping available today, one can layer bands of pipe over pipe and basically make a steel version of an Armstrong rifle (without the rifling) and without a breechblock, making a nice muzzle loader that can handle some serious pressure.
Though I'd love to get my hands on a Hotchkiss revolving cannon or some other transitional-era guns and powder.
Whatever happens, LSP has got
The trebuchet, and they do not.
Hey, thinking outside the box here, could one of them tree-bucket things be installed on the Navy's little crappy ships so at least they'd have SOMETHING to shoot back with?
"...stone or spear throwing ballistae or onagers or other catapults can be transported and set up relatively quickly, have roughly the same range and take up less of a footprint."
Very good call, Beans.
You most definitely did, LL, and I've not forgotten.
Speaking of which, let's get out to the range again, it'd be fun. Wait till it's cooler though.
Exactly, Justin.
And what a King, WSF. Then there's Picket's.
Lee setting/allowing that to go off seems way out of character but there it is.
Ah, Beans, HOTCHKISS CANON.
Yes, please.
Wild, in haiku land!
Bold call and a good one.
Great memories of my Scouts making good sized ones and launching melons. Great team building - or as I digress - crew served weapons training...
Well done, Seamus!
Post a Comment