cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16474034
16th Century "Mall Ninja shit"
Don't forget to unload before chopping trees... That would suck.
I don't think it's for trees
Trees, heads ¯\('-')/¯ Won't make much difference with a lead ball burried in your face
How are you pointing the axe head at yourself while chopping?
Pretty sure the head is the stock and the handle is the barrel.
/edit: based on the other picture, perhaps not. Either way seems like a pretty poor design really.
I am Groot?
Probably made by someone like this:
I like swords!
* heavy breathing in dwarvish *
I think id really prefer the pointy side and the boom side be the same side...
It is. The barrel is quite short.
Oh, got it. Assumed the whole length was a barrel.
Shit, with the barrel that short I think the hatchet is the better bet
According to some cursory searching and Wikipedia referencing (so take the credibility at your own peril), axe guns were primarily thought of as axes, and the firearm part was secondary.
The Swedish navy issued axe gun has a more practical profile than the ornate gun in the OP, if that gives an idea how such an idea might be practical.
Bullpup shotaxe
Pretty sure it isn't. Apart from not being a very logical placement:
Perhaps we are talking past each other. I have marked the barrel and direction of shot.
Looks like the barrel is on the same side.
I'm no axeologist but I feel like the axe head can't withstand much whacking before bending and would block the barrel. Thankfully it's probably just a wall hanger.
Amateur axeologist here.
This isn't your "I'm going to chop down a tree" tool. The head of this thing was either for messing fools up, or for busting brush, not heavy use.
Given that, the structural weakness is worth it in this case. Pushing the axe head a little farther out lengthens the "handle" (gun) and provides more leverage. That leverage comes in handy when hacking through both bushes and fools.
Straight outta some final fantasy.
Gun blade?
I saw a ton of these in Prague castle. Gun-axes, gun-swords, gun-knives. Also a child sized suit of armor.
I'm imagining children jousting in tiny suits of armor on goats
It looks a bit fancy but it was common for muskets to be used as clubs when they'd been fired and there was no time to reload. I guess bayonets are the modern variant of this idea.
I'm no expert on this corner of history, so take this for what it's worth, but military issued axe guns, and guns with bayonets existed at the overlapping times.
If I recall correctly, bayonets were an outgrowth of pike and shot warfare, where eventually the duties of the pike were taken over by the bayonet in infantry use in open field warfare.
Axe guns were used by cavalry, which makes sense as a short and swingable weapon; axe guns were issued to naval troops as boarding weapons, which makes sensible for the close quarter combat compared to a bayonet on a musket.
Kislev.
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