King Louis XV's wrist-breaking blunderbuss pistol, with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson

What makes a blunderbuss worthy of being in a royal collection? Make its bore so enormous that it should technically be classed as a canon.
This unique French rococo-style flintlock pistol from King Louis XV's royal collection is just as impressive as it is pointless, making it what could be described as the Desert Eagle of its day.
0:00 Intro
0:37 Royal-ly Big Pistol
1:03 Blunderbuss Comparison
2:50 Royal Markings
3:45 Pistol Details
6:45 Firearm Purpose
7:50 Gun barrel
10:41 Damage (Au mon dieu)
11:27 Stock Screw
12:17 Historical Context
16:25 Outro
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[@daminox]

"So anyway I was rooting through my drawers of pistols and found King Louis XV's blunderbuss slash handheld artillary piece..." -Jonathan

[@robertlinke2666]

just another day in the office

[@ENIGMAXII2112]

@@robertlinke2666 And what a Great office it be..

[@Thwoorp]

Which was nice...

[@timt5381]

To stumble upon such gems... Jonathan is in a good place.

[@AnotherOak]

I was in a library and found a book.. amazing.

[@JonathanFitt]

I loved that look to camera about the destructive marking from the previous museum 😆

[@Thermalions]

A position Jonathan quite rightly has strong views on.

[@josephmedina6403]

Notice the brass club handle? Specially designed for going in the mouth first then pulling the teeth out secondly

[@johnnytyler5685]

I have it on good authority that King Louis the XV referred to this pistol as "Le Boomstique".

[@HeX64]

Yes, and it was often shortened to "La Boum".

[@pietaribagge4394]

😂

[@johnladuke6475]

C'est groovy.

[@CostaCola]

Le baton aux booms

[@malegria9641]

La Baguette du Bang (yes we call sticks baguettes)

[@SandrasSpicySpanishSalami]

Louis XV has a bit of a Rowan Atkinson quality to him in that painting.

[@kbjerke]

Blackadder? 🙂

[@ENIGMAXII2112]

@@kbjerke Was just thinking that very same thing..

[@jonpopelka]

I'm just imagining Mr. Bean's misadventures with a handheld blunderbuss.

[@kbjerke]

@@jonpopelka I don't feel it would end well.... 🥸

[@thecommissaruk]

Scott from Kentucky Ballistics just felt a disturbance in the force... And quite possibly his scar started itching.

[@Bird_Dog00]

Dude...

[@bobdrooples]

​@@Bird_Dog00Dude is accurate. Calm down.

[@Bird_Dog00]

@@bobdrooplesIt wasn't meant as criticsim or a rebutal. More in the sense of "dude, that's savage (but true)"

[@mrse7en622]

Nobody tell Scott

[@UncleSam1732]

Don’t let him near this museum 😂

[@samholdsworth420]

King louis xv's little cannon? Thats what she said! 😊

[@Crangaso]

LMFAO

[@wlewisiii]

Pa-dum-pum!

[@samholdsworth420]

**Stands and takes a bow**

[@jaybaxter4830]

It’s good being the king

[@johnladuke6475]

Well she said that, but was beheaded shortly thereafter. Gotta watch what you say around the king.

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

A pistol so powerful it injures targets on both ends!

[@GeseppiOoodblast]

Well that sounds like a very efficient death machine haha

[@ommsterlitz1805]

Louis XV like his son Louis XVI was about 1 toise tall so about 1,949 m or 6"5

[@josephmedina6403]

Standing there with a split forehead with a dent like I got him!...🤣

[@Naturallystated]

I think your insight that it may have been used for fireworks is spot on. Fireworks would require a much lower charge, and having a preloaded firework pistol handed tot he king makes more sense than the king playing with it at a shooting range. That would also be massively fun!

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Whilst I can't rule that out (perhaps both?) I actually discount the fireworks theory in the video. It's just too well-built for that.

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

@@jonathanferguson1211 3:40 "It is from a royal collection, at the very least". That explains why it is so well built. Actually, I find that it is too plain and undecorated for a king's toy, specially for Louis XV's tastes.

[@blackpowderkun]

​@@jonathanferguson1211 Cannons have been used for fireworks historically.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Yes, I know :) We have an original 15th century 'firework book' in the collection. But this piece isn't a cannon and, again, is built far too robustly for just pyrotechnic use.@@blackpowderkun

[@blackpowderkun]

@@jonathanferguson1211 I mean southeast asian used there canons both in war and fireworks, so it's not farfetched for canons to be used like that in peacetime.

[@lawrencemartin1113]

"Ahh, bring out my mouse cannon!!" (So called, because you could fire a whole mouse out of it, like a human cannon ball!). What a fantastic bit of kit!! Utterly bonkers. I would love to see one of these being fired. Someone out there, really needs to build a good replica....with perhaps a slightly stronger stock...and get it onto a range.

[@nicholasvaultonburg9152]

The horizontal tracking shots (especially with the other cams in shot) are an excellent touch and a real hallmark of just how good the production on this channel has become. Absolutely love the direction of production. Top shelf work, as always.

[@charlesphillips4575]

1. The king firing a fancy flare pistol to signal the start of various events makes sense to me. 2. There are theoretical advantage to a short, fat shot column, so loading this with much less that 1/8lb of shot would be workable as a blunderbuss. 3. Not very likely, but a batton gun firing a light (wooden?) projectile would work.

[@nathanguyon7620]

Maybe it was used with big wax or wooden slugs to silence advisors who won't shut up in meetings. Like how Elvis turned off the TV.

[@johnladuke6475]

The first suggestion in the list, and the Elvis analogy, are the only reasons I can quite imagine the king shooting something like this. If he wants fireworks, he just orders some servants to shoot them off so he doesn't have to handle the crazy hand cannon.

[@abb1793]

This makes me think I'd like to see Jonathan create a shooter game class system for various historical emperors and empresses, so king Louis XV in a class with an autocannon caliber pistol. Queen Elizabeths class with her pocket pistol...

[@derekp2674]

Thanks Jonathan and team, it was really interesting to see that revealed.

[@JordanFlayer]

Great video Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history!

[@pagancrew]

Super interesting content - and compliments on how much your production quality has evolved, it was always good and now it's fantastic!

[@wilhelmvonn9619]

Fascinating. There are some highly decorated (therefore expensive) wheellock guns with this type of barrel - it seems to me that they were used by the very rich for firing flares or fireworks, basically for fun.

[@brandonobaza8610]

The Donderbus, or "Thunder Box". Always liked that.

[@TheSundayShooter]

So pistols of these dimensions were _not_ entirely the work of comedic fiction

[@j.robertsergertson4513]

Yosemite Sam would be proud

[@JonathanFitt]

If I’m a king who likes to shoot I would totally have gunsmiths make me hilarious weapons to show off to the court. One-upmanship.

[@nathanatramp]

If you wanted to be a person with more money than sense in the 18th Century, you would have to be a royal.

[@seniorelzappo9919]

For firing boulders at coyotes ..

[@censusgary]

It does seem like a cartoonist designed this one, and even more so, the “blunderbuss pistol.”

[@marxbruder]

I can already feel the burns you would get holding the barrel directly to fire that thing. I do American Revolution reenacting, and after just a couple shots through the musket the barrel gets too hot to touch.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

I have a feeling this was a "one-and-done" deal :)

[@fitchlekvoda8721]

If you have to reload that beast after taking your shot, you have bigger problems than barrel heat

[@ommsterlitz1805]

It's not made for puny little anglo hands Louis XV like his son Louis XVI was about 1 toise tall so about 1,949 m or 6"5

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Stop toising me.@@ommsterlitz1805

[@welporajackwelp4899]

4:53 I always figured it was shaped that way to be used as a club after being shot

[@broceratops1337]

The beauty shots for this video look exceptional. Great job everyone

[@TMFShooting]

Very Nice '' Another Great Video Jonathan 💯 Thanks for Sharing💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

[@borjesvensson8661]

Firework/signal pistol sounds resonable to me. The reinforced conical breech might just be for the drive charge and the wider barrel for the firework.

[@Ndrew556]

He had the actual golden gun from 007 💀

[@thomaseley8386]

A brilliant bit of kit! For showing off with another royal or powerful noble.

[@AdelaideRegiment]

This is the pistol for that type of man who feels the need to drive a big red loud car :P

[@ryanowens9887]

Stunning piece of history

[@danpatterson8009]

Mon Dieu, monsieur Callahan, c'est un gros pistolet!

[@Georgieastra]

est-ce que tu te sens chanceux punque?

[@Willy_Tepes]

Having tried modern things of similar dimensions and shape that was cut down from something longer, I can tell you the recoil is reasonable easy to handle.

[@manuelferreira4345]

😂

[@richn66]

One of the best so far!

[@Flauscheloni]

I really like your shirt, Jonathan :D Very informative video, as ever.

[@viperscot1]

excellent you got my blackpowder itch renectment slated would really like someone to make a copy so we could see it being fired 😁😁 nippy wrist after that fired keep up with the excellent content bestest to you and staff

[@trapmouth]

I have it on good authority that these were serving pieces. You would fill the barrel with baked beans and scoop them out with a little spoon called a dunston.

[@martkbanjoboy8853]

So it has a quasi Manton style breech. If you wanted a percussion man stopper in those days you'd want a boxlock apparently. The Mantonesque breech may be a possible indicator of convergent design. Fascinating discovery. This seems like a more practical stand in for the 'duck foot pistol.' Something a ship captain kept nearby if he had his wife and kids on board.

[@snowflakemelter1172]

Casually has a rack of .280 FALs in the background.

[@robertbean8116]

Thank you, l really appreciate your videos. Especially your knowledgeable commentary. I can imagine using it in a 16th century melee, your greatest threat would be swordsmen. You would never never want your sword to leave your right hand . A handgun that could easily be recharged while held in the left hand would be desirable. This little blunderbuss or "dragon" would be ideal. The conical powder chamber might be so that the projectiles (be it ball or a packet of shot & wadding) will wedge into place when the buttstock is struck. I'd bet that the touchole is large enough to self pime the pan. If so it may be possible to load and fire several shots per minute while holding both sword and pistol. Well, like you say "let your imagination run wild".

[@DeimosPC]

Imagine just walking around with that in your royal robes.. Whipping it out as a meme even in those times.

[@TheVirtuoso883]

Bet King Louis whipped this bad boy out every time the word "girth" was heard

[@stamfordly6463]

Lots of stuff was appropriated in Paris both before the Hundred Days War and after it. Wellington, for example, appropriated two of Napoleon's mistresses.

[@Georgieastra]

And his sister

[@stamfordly6463]

@@GeorgieastraHis sister's chef - I don't think Wellington had anything to do with Pauline herself other than live in her old house.

[@dantherpghero2885]

Ultima ratio regum.

[@ZGryphon]

Seeing Jonathan take a modern two-handed grip on this thing gave me a real giggle.

[@REXOB9]

Gorgeous pistol... er cannon. Thanks... and just noticed your shirt. Very chic.

[@geronimo8159]

Loved the pixel art "subscribe"-abimation :D

[@Crangaso]

Those are some real hand cannons

[@PitFriend1]

So even kings sometimes have to compensate for something.

[@DustyMagroovy]

Pixelated Johnathon should have protective ear and eyewear.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

A bronze pocket cannon! I want one!

[@KaiserRisOfficial]

You must have some large pockets lmao

[@RiderOftheNorth1968]

Not bronze, it´s brass.

[@matthewkeith8605]

​ Mais étant donné qu'il s'agit d'un pistolet tromblon qui brise le poignet et qui vous ferait exploser la tête, vous devez vous poser une question : "Est-ce que je me sens chanceux ?" Et toi, paysan ?

[@HellbirdIV]

I think this is a very literal Hand Cannon, even more so than the older Handgonnes.

[@Nailgun26]

Love the sub machine gun shirt!

[@user-rd6ii6mp1t]

I can picture Louis XV getting a massive pistol like that just to show off. I'll leave it up to historians to determine if he was compensating for something, but I can definitely imagine him shouting something along the lines of "This is my BOOM STICK!" in the process.

[@paltryicons4610]

Dirty Harry / Historical FPS mashup idea: Dirty Henri “Do you feel lucky, galute?”

[@Wulfseal]

Could be a confetti pistol, a flare pistol or for filling with bird shot. Part of the fun is we will never know for sure.

[@squidundertheinfluence]

Should we call it a Feagle or a Reagle? (French Eagle vs. Royal Eagle)

[@Chiller11]

Concealed carry artillery.

[@junichiroyamashita]

I love the design of the bell shaped one,like the one Geppetto had in the old Disney Pinocchio. I wish i could find a modern replica. I wonder,if rifled or with a paradox choke,how powerful could it be?

[@BeetleBuns]

rifling has no bearing on power, that's up to the weight of your projectile, the charge behind it, and the projectile's fitment to the bore

[@junichiroyamashita]

@@BeetleBuns yeah,but rifling gives spin ,and that helps with velocity and penetration. Does that not contribute? Otherwise,why would paradox chokes for slugs exist?

[@BeetleBuns]

@@junichiroyamashita rifling actually decreases total velocity by directing movement in a direction other than forward. The purpose of rifling is to provide stability to the projectile, which increases precision and helps with overall range by eliminating tumbling which would introduce higher drag.

[@knate44]

Man I wish I could just browse the pistol drawers of the Royal Armories...

[@Kr0nicDragon]

“Rogue curator” sounds like a movie idea

[@4d17y4h]

Reminds me of a winbuster shotstick which has a gravity action trigger

[@p7j5]

Oh, i didn't know Scott from Kentucky Ballistics is of royal descent

[@AlteredGames]

The only logical conclusion is that Louis XV was the storied leader of a secret knighthood of werewolf hunters.

[@johnladuke6475]

Did they also occasionally go after vampires?

[@calebwelch6393]

This should be a legendary weapon in a 18th-century style game.

[@msnafu9437]

06:28 there are what like two small holes drilled into the lock underneath the pan, are they some sort of lubrication points?

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

The grotesques on the butt, would be Aeolus, the Greek God of Winds!

[@JosipRadnik1]

I've made myself a flintlock blunderbuss in 8 gauge (21.2 mm) calibre. I've cast round balls of about 20.9 mm diametre but so far, I did not have a chance to fire it with them - only blanks on special occassions. There just aren't many ranges here in switzerland (where I live) where you can show up with such a thing.

[@magecraft2]

Can just imagine Charles Lancaster looking at that and thinking "Wow that is cool if only it had more barrels" :)

[@johnladuke6475]

"Also I wonder if the bore could be made any bigger..."

[@charlesflint9048]

I would like to see one of these come into the Pawn Stars store show where they actually test fire such weapons.

[@johnladuke6475]

Best I can do is a hundred bucks for your one-of-a-kind museum-quality Louis XV fireworks launcher.

[@elpaya7775]

.....i need one of those

[@CursedLink666]

You can fire whatever you want out of that thing. Buckshot, mini cannonballs, emergency signals, birdshot, fireworks, random stuff on your desk, ect.

[@Thermalions]

Topic adjacent, does the flared end on the blunderbuss example actually provide any firing benefit (or otherwise), or is it just a stylistic choice as far as we know?

[@wilhelmvonn9619]

It has little effect on shot spread. One theory is that it's for easier and faster reloading.

[@Thermalions]

@@wilhelmvonn9619 Yes, that makes logical sense. Thanks for responding.

[@nathanguyon7620]

Reminds me of Lil' deuce. Probably a similar fun idea by the king.

[@loddude5706]

Mrs. Thatcher's Derringer, complete with post Cabinet meeting soot . . . : )

[@mightyone3737]

That is a beautiful weapon, and I feel like you could even use firing that gun at an easy target as a test of strength, where it's not about hitting the target, but about not being smucked in the face with the gun!

[@GhostofJamesMadison]

Perhaps it was used to signal the start if a fox hunt for the king. It wasn't unheard of for them to bring all the foxes precages and then release them all at once using a signal pistol to startle the foxes out of the cages and let everyone down wind know the hunt had started. It may not have been fired by the king himself but perhaps a squire type or themaster of hound or whomever it would be that would be incharge of the royal hunt.

[@causewaykayak]

I suppose if you are a Louis you don't need reasons ... people bring you nice things to curry favour. If it was the King's he probably ordered some poor courtier or guardsman to fire it. Great buckshot weapon for impromptu crowd control. Fascinating bit of history and as always presented with humour.

[@benjaminfinlay829]

Huh... I've seen something like this in gaming. The "Shadowkeeper" pistol in XCOM 2 is a lot like this weapon. It's a shotgun pistol with what looks like a flintlock or percussion-cap mechanism (though unlike a real flintlock it can fire repeatedly). Do you think maybe Firaxis used a something like this as inspiration for the Shadowkeeper's appearance?

[@jdzencelowcz]

That 1st one looks classic cartoonish, but it's real??? Wow!!

[@TehAlekzi]

If someone could make a replica of Louis' deagle, it would be fun to see how it would actually perform.

[@nicktrueman224]

It looks like a repro. Like it's a well made piece, the conical chamber makes sense. It could fire buckshot but a signal or fireworks pistol makes sense. Many reasons to own a signal pistol or shotgun pistol. As said you could set your own charge size it need not be big hence dampening the recoil. Versatile piece

[@chrisball3778]

'I know what you're thinking... "Did he fire one shot or only zero?" Well, to tell the truth, in all that excitement I kinda lost track myself. But seeing as this this is a cannon-barrel blunderbus pistol, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it could blow your head clean off... you gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"... Well do ya, punk?'

[@OzjishKahn]

Surely this is a signal pistol. That barrel is so thin that it would have a significant chance of bursting when firing anything solid! Especially with a powder chamber so 'big'.

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

Could it be a secondary weapon for wild boar hunting, which has been a popular sport in France for 1000 years, something along the lines of a Howdah pistol?

[@tomhenry897]

Didn’t they use spears/lances from horse back?

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

@@tomhenry897 Depends whether you are hunting "en battue" or à cheval. En battue would have had Louis holding a large calibre rifle with the boars being driven towards him by boar hounds (how they still hunt boar around my house in France). By the 18th century, I think en battue was more common than à cheval. Given the technology of the period, the rifle would have been muzzle loading single shot, so a back up heavy pistol loaded with buckshot, might be a sensible insurance. Wild Boars in France are a smaller variety than those in North America, which can reach 400-500 kg or rarely even larger. The average boar in France only weighs around 40-70kg and a faceful of buckshot would probably deal with it.

[@johnladuke6475]

Someone else suggested simply that having the king fire a flare might be a start to a fancy event. Other than that idea and this last-ditch boar defense, I can't really picture the king firing this monster pistol himself. It it's a firework or signal launcher, I'd imagine a servant being tasked with that job.

[@harveybradley-hole]

Could you test the splintered crack for blood? possible DNA or info on the shooter...

[@jimroberts3009]

You can't beat a big weapon!

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

What's it like on full auto?

[@goetzliedtke]

Carbon 14 date the gunk in the barrel.

[@Cats-TM]

Does bring up the question, for these video showcases do you clean the weapon because they are works of art and museum pieces or leave them in a more regular state to show its history and…use, I guess (Was looking for another word but I can not think of it right now.). I have no answer for this, I assume it just depends on the weapon and if the dirt interferes with the mechanism.

[@samcruickshanks6856]

I feel like a man could defend himself from most things, animal or human, in modern France and or England 😊

[@causewaykayak]

Not these days in England. The law supports the bad guy.

[@ianray8823]

Strong Kentucky Ballistics energy with this video lol

[@martinwinther6013]

"everything about this gun is rococco" - - The caliber itself seems to disagree, its freaking Barok. Its big, its heavy and it would make a dense set of holes in the recieving end..

[@F1ghteR41]

1:45 Does it miss its breech fixing bolt? 4:48 Am I right in thinking that this style of grip was widely imitated later in the eighteenth and through the first half of the nineteenth century? 7:12 When does the use of signal pistols & flare guns in the military begin?

[@jonathanferguson1211]

1:45 That pistol does, yes, but that's not the pistol in question of course, just a comparator. 4:48 Yes 7:12 Mid-19th century I believe, although I haven't looked into that in any detail (I'm not aware of anyone else doing so either unfortunately).

[@F1ghteR41]

@@jonathanferguson1211 1) I see, I thought my eyes betrayed me for a moment. It seems that _World of Guns_ has trained me well, thanks again for recommendation. 2), 3) Thank you! That was quite an entertaining video, by the way. And if I may ask you a further question, who came up with the idea to put a DEagle (just to annoy your colleague 😁) in old King Louis's hand?

[@stephencunniffe823]

That screw in the lions mouth not being centered seems like something the maker would do. Especially with that much filagree. There is a name for it in relation to getting the screw in a set place. I can't remember what it is.

[@patricegarnierlobo25111967]

an"escopette" in french with flared barrel the them word word a priori ,to clean the deck of a ship or a corridor it is effective at 7 meters lol , brass cannons in France were attributed to the navy because there was no corrosion from salt water

[@earlofpurple2852]

Could you date the firing date with the carbon-14 method, or would that not work because of weathering or something?

[@Stribogboi]

You guys are located in Leeds right?

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Leeds, Fort Nelson on the south coast, and all the displays in the White Tower at the Tower of London.

[@Stribogboi]

@@jonathanferguson1211 I'm visiting the Leeds location in the UK on March 4th. Ever since I found this channel I've always wanted to visit. Coming from Ohio in the USA.

[@jonathanferguson1211]

That's great to hear - hope you enjoy :) @@Stribogboi

[@Stribogboi]

@@jonathanferguson1211 I drove 3 hours out of the way to visit the Leeds location and it was closed today. 😭😭😭

[@robertlinke2666]

it could also be used to signal to troops maybe a king even in those days had duties on the battlefield. i wouldn't be surprised if it was used to signal attacks, or retreats or whatever

[@Yoel_Mizrachi]

12:50 "but this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons"

[@etelmo]

In regards to the fouling which is probably mostly carbon... would it be possible to carbon date it to give a rough idea when it was last fired, or at least give an idea the year the black powder was made?

[@sakamoto2467]

Thats not how carbon dating works, my guy. For dating in soil it is the accumulation of carbon over time. For a firearm barrel, its just fouling.. theres no geological change.

[@isaaco5679]

King louis' dueling pistol, clearly.

[@mrfrosty3]

Pen-ultima ratio regum, maybe?