Punt Gun - a Really, Really Big Gun

In Russia, similar smaller guns were produced in the early 20th century in Izhevsk, at the Izhevsk Arms Plant. They were called "utotchnitsy," and the Anglo-American name punt gun is formed from two words - punt - "flat-bottomed boat" and gun - "gun".

With one shot from such a gun, 30 to 70 waterfowl could be taken. With a caliber of 50 mm and a barrel length of 2.75 m, the punt gun weighed about 80 kg, that is, more than a Maxim machine gun with its mount! It had to be loaded with about 500-900 g of shot. 

It is quite understandable that with such dimensions the "little gun" had a very strong recoil, so punt guns were mounted on boats, which is where their name came from. In addition to the monstrous recoil, these shotguns had another significant drawback - punt gun barrels burst far more often than all other types of hunting weapons. Needless to say, this led to severe consequences for their owners. Well, in those punt guns that were loaded from the breech, even the breechblocks sometimes burst.

Shot

This story happened in the year of the final withdrawal of our troops from

the territory of East Germany and probably already belongs to the category

of tall tales. Maybe the events described in it really did take place, or

maybe someone just made up such a joke…

A customer walked into a hunting shop located next to the Russian unit

being withdrawn back to the Motherland and asked whether they had any shot

for ducks in stock. Well, how much could there be in a small specialty shop

in a small German town? The salesman rummaged around in the back and named

the amount — 20 kilograms. To his surprise, the customer bought the whole

lot right away! The burgher was very pleased with the deal and had no idea

why the Russian needed so much shot…

The next morning, Comrade Warrant Officer came out onto the shore of a little

lake nearby. Well, maybe he just wanted to take one last breath of clean, cool

German air! Only over his shoulder hung a PK machine gun, firing 7.62 mm

rounds. Comrade Warrant Officer took the PK off safe, and then the silence of

that beautiful morning was shattered by the deafening crack of a long burst

from the machine gun! And then another, and another! All the creatures in the

area, including a German game warden who had appeared from nowhere, were on

their ears. A huge flock of ducks quietly swimming in the lake took off into

the sky with wild cries. Now the morning was no longer so quiet and peaceful.

The game warden, running toward the Warrant Officer on shaking, half-bent

legs from fear, having completely forgotten all Russian words except for

strong obscenities, tried on the move to find out why he was shooting. But he

didn’t make it…

Then armageddon struck. From the opposite bank, where all the flying (and not

so flying) creatures of the lake had fled in terror through the air, came a

deafening shot. BOOM!!! The warden’s eyes widened; it seemed he had now

forgotten his native language too… More than half of the flock of ducks

frightened by the Warrant Officer was brought down by a single volley from

the gun! Only it was loaded with those twenty kilograms of shot that the

Russian “hunters” had bought in advance…

The local Germans let out a huge sigh of relief when the last truck loaded

from this unit disappeared from sight. Who knows what else might occur to

these Russians?