7 Pounder RML British Field Artillery Cannon

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7 Pounder RML Cannon

British Field Artillery

Period: First made in 1876 

Scale  1:6

Price on request

 

Dimensions

Overall Length: 480mm

Overall Height: 227 mm

Carriage width: 315 mm

Carriage height: 227 mm

Barrel diameter: 31 mm

Barrel length: 185 mm

Barrel bore: 12.7 mm

Cannon Weight: 2.4 kg

Base Weight: 18 kg

Granite Base: 550 mm x 400 mm x 30 mm

Limited edition:

50 of each combination

 

The story behind the selection of the 7 Pounder RML Cannon

Zane has been intrigued by the 7 Pounder Rifle Muzzle Loading Cannon ever since his first visit to the Johannesburg War Museum, as a small boy.  Hailing from East London in the Eastern Cape, it's local history attracted him to it together with the images that it stirred up in his young imagination of it's use in the South African bushveld. 

 

Historical information

The 7 Pounder RML is also known as the Kaffarian Gun. It was designed for use in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in an area known as Kaffaria. This is the region from East London stretching 200 km inland as far as Queenstown.  It was here that the British came into contact with the Xhosa nation who were being driven South by the Zulu's who ruled Natal (today known as KwaZulu Natal) with an iron fist.

The terrain is hilly with long grass, thorn trees and bush. The British needed a small, agile piece of artillery that could cope with the environment that was not too heavy to transport.

The ranges at which it was to be employed would generally be short.  The 7 Pounder RML mountain gun fitted the bill but the wheelbase was too narrow for the wagon tracks that served as roads in the region.

The 7 Pounder mountain carriage was easily upset on these wagon track as its wheels were small and it often needed to be deployed where the grass was tall.  The 9 Pounder RML barrel weighed over 1000 pounds and was too heavy but the wheelbase was suitable so it was decided to mount a 7 pounder weighing 200lbs onto the 9 Pounder carriage.  And so the 7 Pounder RML called the Kaffarian Gun came into being.  

This gun served well in the Eastern Cape and was later used against the Zulu's when Britain decided to take control of Zululand in 1879. The 2 x 7 Pounder RML Kaffarian guns participated at the Battle of Isandlwana where despite their superior firepower they were overrun.  It was here that with superior numbers of more than 20 000 Zulu's, armed mainly with traditional shields, spears and old rifles, that over 1 300 British soldiers were killed leading to the biggest British defeat in a colonial war in British history.   Cetswayo's orders were that no RED Coat must live and that day and none did. 

About the model

The model is manufactured from bronze castings and Burmese teak.  While traditional engineering methods were required to develop the prototype, the lost wax casting method is employed to create the pieces for the 7 Pounder resulting in the finished model leaning more towards a finely crafted bronze sculptured art piece than a piece of model engineering.

Coming soon is the Sterling Silver 7 pounder RML.

 

Link to more pics of the model:  https://www.palmersarmoury.co.za/album/7-pounder-scale-model-cannon

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