12 pdr. Blakely Rifle
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- Type: Rifled gun, 6 or 7 saw-tooth rifle grooves
- Rarity: Very Rare
- Years of Manufacture: 1860 - 1861
- Tube Composition: Wrought Iron or Steel
- Bore Diameter: 3.5 inches
- Standard Powder Charge: 1.5 lbs.
- Projectiles: 12 lb. bolt
- Tube Length: 59 inches
- Tube Weight: 800 lbs.
- Effective Range (at 5°): 1,850 yards
- Invented By: Royal Artillery Captain Alexander Theopilis Blakely
- Casting Foundry: Fawcett, Preston & Co., Liverpool, England
- Special Notes: At least seven different varieties of Blakelys have been discovered in the many battlefields an museums across the country.
More about 12 pdr. Blakely Rifles
British Captain Theophilus Alexander Blakely was a prolific designer of rifled cannon, and since his own government did not adopt his designs, he sold his weapons overseas.
Blakely, pioneered a banding system for his rifled cannon. With each experiment of his design a different cannon was developed with the end result of at least five, and possibly as many as ten, distinct types of Blakely cannons were manufactured.
Some of these guns were smuggled through the Union blockade for use in the Confederate armies. The guns themselves were very light, and this caused quite a shock to the carraige upon firing, causing a damaging recoil. The ammunition was also usually imported and quite expensive.
One famous Blakely rifle was "The Widow Blakely", a 7.5 inch rifle that was used by the Confederates during the defenses of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1863.
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