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Not all big smoothbore guns are punt guns. Some are wall or rampart guns. Gil

When I was a kid on the Shannon during the forties and fifties there was still at least one punt gunner plying his trade. The results were visible in several poultry and fish dealers around Limerick all through the Winter. In the mid to late fifties I used to hunt ducks near the cottage of the very last of these characters. His punt and gun would be drawn up on the foreshore near his front door. That very gun is now in the Limerick Museum. What a monster. About 20 years ago there was an article in �Shooting Times� the U.K. magazine, about a guy who built his own multi barreled muzzle loading punt gun. Used it on the Severan estuary. Obviously a project and a pastime for nutters. C�est la vie.

How I wish that I could.

There was an article many, many years ago in the Sporting Clays magazine, as I recall, about a punt gunner who claimed to have killed over 1000 ducks with a single shot, on the bay. The gun jumped loose of it's "moorings", recoiled into him, and broke his jaw, knocking him from his punt into the bay. He was rescued by a game warden who went out two mornings later and picked up over 700 ducks that were dead and frozen in the ice. Great story. I wish so much I had saved it.

SRH

There are still a few punt gunners in the U.K. One book that gives a lot about the sport is The Complete Wilfowler by Stanley Duncan and Guy Thorn. First editions are hard come by but it has been reprinted. Lagopus.....

I'm not sure, if this is a good wish. As written in the article, Slights dog was totally deaf because of the gun's immense noise over it's head...!

Cheers,
Gunwolf

In 1987 I picked up a copy of this book in a used book store in the French Quarter, Shanghai, China. It was an interesting store, full of books from past foreigners who had lived in Shanghai during its heyday.

I remember in about the same year seeing a Chinese man with a single break action shotgun with a barrel length way over 4 feet huntng ducks on the Yongjiang river just outside Ningbo (Ningbo is a days train ride south of Shanghai). I have no idea what guage it might have been. The ducks as I recall were widgeon and teal.

Deaf dogs have been around for longer than I have. We had several due to Cutts compensators and shooting right over the dogs head. I had a Chessie who was particularly nasty if you shot over his head and did not kill anything. Hated the sound of the gun but loved retrieving. Was a duck retrieving machine who would tirelessly got after wounded birds, even wounded Geese which a lot of dogs learn to hate.

The concussion from that punt gun blast could be felt in your stomach, in your bones. The noise was even louder coming on a cold morning, on the water. It just rolled and echoed back as a fainter shadow of itself. Of course everything on the water sounds louder, when everything is dead silent. The entire island knew at once what happened. Kind of a shared secret.

That punt gun was reported "lost" later and not recovered. I don't believe it. Most likely, the story was started because the Feds were sniffing around and some explanation had to be supplied. Reports of men dragging hooks, trying to recover something on the bottoms could have been a massive misdirection. Watermen are clannish towards outsiders but will help each other out without even being asked. Guess they figure it could be them looking for something next time and the more help the better.

Deaf Dogs: Floyd's Snap was as deaf as a post her last two years having been shot over all her life. We were able to extend her hunting career for two more years through use of GPS tracking collars. She couldn't hear a whistle or hear a command but more than once we found her in the thick, 200 yards away, on point. Damn good dog and we miss her. Gil

I was lucky to watch a demo of a punt gun up at Magee marsh in the late 70s. what a thundering roar when she fired the targets where old bleach bottles floating in a small pond. Every bottle sank, and I swore the boat went back a good 4 feet. The smoke from the black powder seemed to stay low on the water well after the shot. I think I'll never forget that demo.

Rich

Not related t punt guns, but some years back I was at an antique tractor show in Missouri. They were getting ready for a short parade on the grounds. Approximately 100 yards form where my wife & I were sitting in the bleachers was a 1918 Rumbley Oil Pull 30-60. I truly wanted to watch how they started it but had turned to look at something else when it occurred. My wife & I both commented on the feel in our chest when it started, she even said it hurt her heart. this hd a two cylinder engine with as I recall a 10" bore by 12" stroke for 1885 CID. Would pull a 10 bottom plow @ about 2 1/2 MPH.
Jon I can certainly understand you "Feeling" that punt gun go off. The noise of the Rumbley was really quite mild, but you cold feel every one of its 375 RMP strokes in your chest.