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Artillery

Pumhart von Steyr

type of cannon artillery

The Pumhart von Steyr (lit. 'Styrian Bombard') is a medieval large-calibre cannon from Styria, Austria, and the largest known wrought-iron bombard by caliber. It weighs around 8 t (7.9 long tons; 8.8 short tons) and has a length of more than 2.59 m (8 ft 6 in). It was produced in the early 15th century and could fire, according to modern calculations, an 800 mm (31 in) stone ball weighing 690 kg (1,520 lb) to a distance of roughly 600 m (2,000 ft) after being loaded with 15 kg (33 lb) of gunpowder and set at an elevation of 10°. The bombard is today on display in one of the artillery halls of the Museum of Military History at Vienna. Besides the Pumhart von Steyr, a number of 15th-century European large-calibre weapons are known to have been employed primarily in siege warfare, including the wrought-iron Mons Meg and Dulle Griet as well as the cast-bronze Faule Mette, Faule Grete and Grose Bochse.

Footnotes

== See also == List of the largest cannon by caliber

== References == Schmidtchen, Volker (1977a). "Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit". Technikgeschichte. 44 (2): 153–173 (162–164).

== Further reading == Schmidtchen, Volker (1977b). Bombarden, Befestigungen, Büchsenmeister: Von den ersten Mauerbrechern des Spätmittelalters zur Belagerungsartillerie der Renaissance. Düsseldorf: Droste. pp. 33–34. ISBN 3-7700-0471-X.

== External links == Media related to Pumhart von Steyr at Wikimedia Commons

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