The use of throwing machines to defeat the enemy at a distance has been practiced since ancient times. A significant breakthrough in the improvement of artillery weapons occurred after the appearance of gunpowder. Throwing machines are a thing of the past, their place was taken by various models of guns, howitzers and mortars. The changing tactics of the battle entailed the improvement of artillery weapons. One of the most perfect examples of the 18th century is the gun of the Shuvalov unicorn.
Smoothbore Artillery Reform
In the period from the 18th to the 19th centuries, the reformation of the materiel was carried out in the army of tsarist Russia: it was simplified and unified. The changes were reflected in the length of the artillery guns and the thickness of their walls. The number of calibers and friezes - jewelry on the trunks has significantly decreased. As a result of unification, it became possible to use the same parts for different guns. Under the command of the Field-General of the Field (chief of artillery) Count Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov, a new weapon was approved - a unicorn (gun). The howitzer from this moment was withdrawn from the arsenal of the imperial army. The reform carried out determined the face of Russian artillery in the war of 1812.
Design work
It took a team of design officers under the leadership of Count Shuvalov several years to work on creating a new improved gun until they came up with a model satisfying them - a new gun - the Shuvalov unicorn. “Do it yourself”, - offer specialized craftsmen the modern craftsmen, providing for this all the necessary drawings and designs. To create a tool according to existing ready-made drawings is a much simpler task than the one that the authors of the gun had to solve. Since science at that time was far from theoretical calculations, work on the new gun model was carried out by trial and error.
As a result of numerous experiments, besides unicorns, various other models of guns appeared, most of which were rejected. One of these samples, not adopted by the Russian army, are double-barrel twin guns. This artillery gun was two barrels mounted on one carriage.
Shooting from these weapons was carried out by buckshot, which consisted of chopped iron rods. It was assumed that the effect of firing such a projectile would be huge. After testing, it turned out that in terms of effectiveness, a double gun is not better than a conventional single-barrel.
What is a unicorn (gun)?
Since 1757, Russian artillery was equipped with a new gun developed by officers M.V. Danilov and M.G. Martynov. The weapon was designed to replace long-barreled guns and howitzers. The cannon got its name from the mythical animal, which was depicted on the coat of arms of Count P.I. Shuvalov.
This gun, specific to Russian artillery, combined the properties of cannons and howitzers designed for conducting fixed and mounted fire. Unicorns are short cannons. The Shuvalovskiy product has an oval trunk channel, in which the horizontal diameter is several times larger than the vertical one. This is what distinguishes it from classic artillery pieces. The trunk of the unicorn has the shape of an oval cone. When firing from it, a horizontal trajectory of the buckshot is provided. For predecessor guns, most of the charge went down into the ground, or flew over the heads of the enemy.
The result of the reform of the royal artillery
After the modernization of the material part in service in the Russian army, a unicorn appeared. The cannon, the photo of which is located below, was a modernized artillery gun, which combined the best properties of previous shooting devices.
The product of Martynov and Danilov at that time was considered the most perfect, since it favorably differed from similar samples in its lightness and maneuverability. For about a hundred years, the tsarist army used a unicorn cannon, the drawings of which in 1760 were requested from Russia by its Austrian allies.
What was the difference between the new model and the classic artillery pieces?
To increase the accuracy of pointing weapons at the target, the designers developed the simplest diopter, which was equipped with a unicorn. The gun was equipped with a sight, which is a slot with a front sight. The firing range of the Shuvalov product was three times greater than that of other artillery guns. Unicorns had a lower mass than ordinary guns, but a higher rate of fire and charge power. They differed in firing. The ability to fire through the heads of soldiers on a hinged path is a characteristic feature of such a weapon as a unicorn. The cannon, the forerunner of the new weapon, was able to carry out extremely flat shooting.
What shells did the advanced model shoot?
Shuvalov's artillery gun could fire bombs, which were hollow spherical shells filled with black powder and equipped with wooden fuse tubes. These unicorns are similar to short-barreled howitzers. They differed in charging speed and range. Unicorns were twice as high as howitzers.
In addition, the unicorn was distinguished by the widespread use of cores and buckshot. The cannon (classic) was designed only for conducting firing. In order to fire at the enemy, the old guns had to advance in front of the infantry: their elevation angle did not exceed 15 degrees, while the barrel of the Shuvalov unicorn rose 45 degrees for firing.
Charging chamber device
Before unicorns, the Russian and European armies used 18-25 caliber guns and 6-8 caliber howitzers. The caliber was determined by the ratio of the length of the gun and the diameter of its barrel. The classic gun at that time was not equipped with a charging chamber, so it was also called tubeless. The barrel channel in this gun passed into the bottom, which had a flat shape or was in the form of a hemisphere. The howitzers had cylindrical charging chambers.
Unicorns were equipped with charging chambers that were conical in shape. The camora was a rear part with a reduced diameter in an artillery gun and was intended to accommodate slug charges.
In shape it was a truncated cone, which ended with a spherical bottom with a depth of 2 calibers. Due to this design, when aiming the gun at the target, ideal alignment and ballistics of the projectile were ensured.
The loading process of the conical chambers of the new guns was easier and faster compared to the cylindrical chambers of howitzers. Due to the successful design, the unicorn had less weight, which positively affected its maneuvering. After 1808, the Shuvalov’s guns were replaced by a flat bottom with rounding. The depth of the chamber decreased.
What artillery used the advanced gun?
For the manufacture of unicorns, copper and cast iron were used. Field artillery was equipped with three-pound copper guns. Pound cannons from this material were used by siege artillery. Pond unicorns made of cast iron were intended for the serf.
1757 gun
In its destructive action, the one-pood unicorn was not inferior to the eighteen-pound gun. Its weight was 1048 kg. This is 64 pounds less than the gun. Due to this, the Shuvalov gun was characterized by high maneuverability. By its tactical and technical characteristics, the one-pound unicorn surpassed the six-pound gun, which in 1734 was considered the lightest field artillery gun. The Shuvalov brainchild turned out to be ten pounds lighter than the gun and had a great destructive effect when firing shotgun. The one-pood unicorn surpassed the howitzer, which was identical in weight. The destructive effect of firing high-explosive fragmentation or high-explosive bombs from an improved cannon at the enemy’s fortifications was twice as large as that of conventional bombs using a single-puff howitzer.
How was the caliber determined?
Until the 19th century, caliber measurement was not carried out according to the diameter of the barrel channel. For this, the estimated weight of the core used by the artillery was taken. After testing a three-pound unicorn, whose caliber was 320 mm, it turned out that this gun was too heavy and time-consuming to load. The design team stopped working with this artillery model.
On what basis did the Shuvalov guns work?
- Before the shooting, the unicorn was aimed at the target.
- Raising and lowering the breech of the gun was carried out using sights - screws.
- To turn the weapon in the horizontal direction, the designers provided special levers.
- Fixation of the gun aimed at the enemy was carried out by wedges.
- The ignition of the powder was carried out through the wick, which was equipped with an ignitor.
- For guns and unicorns, muzzle loading was provided: cores, bombs and tin glasses filled with finely chopped wire (buckshot) were placed in the gun through the barrel. At the same time, for unicorns, a shell from the top of the muzzle fell into a narrowed cone and with its weight tightly sealed the charge of black powder that already existed there, which served as a bouncer.
- During the combustion of gunpowder, enough energy was generated to push the projectile out of the barrel. After the invention of unicorns, the efficiency of artillery guns has improved significantly. In Shuvalov’s products, when a powder charge was burned, energy was completely given to the projectile being kicked out, and was not consumed through gaps in the barrel walls, as was the case with conventional guns.
- After each shot, the muzzle of artillery pieces was cleaned with bannikas - special brushes, for the manufacture of which mutton skins were used.
What is the advantage of a short-barreled gun?
- The artillery design of the unicorn is smaller than a conventional gun, but larger than a mortar.
- The product of Count Shuvalov was calculated for a distance of up to 3 thousand meters. This distance was considered significant at that time.
- The short trunk of the unicorn increased its accuracy. This is because the production of trunks for artillery guns was not perfect then: the presence of microscopic irregularities on the inner surface of the barrel, capable of changing the given trajectory of the projectile, was common. The larger the barrel, the greater the likelihood of such bumps. Reducing the barrel reduced the frequency of deviations and unpredictable rotations of shells during firing, and this, in turn, improved the accuracy of hits.
- The reduction in barrel size had a positive effect on the loading speed. Before unicorns appeared in ordinary guns, one shot took at least 15 minutes.
- In the Shuvalov guns, the guidance and control process was easier. In addition, a short barrel increased the degree of ascent to 45. An ordinary gun could not reach such an indicator.
Shuvalovsky unicorn. Do it yourself
Craftsmen who want to make models of weapons for their collection with their own hands should know that before you start making a unicorn model, you need to have a sample of the future product in front of your eyes. A master model is easy to do with paper. In the process, it is important to maintain a single scale. For this, a toy soldier can be used, with the help of which the future model of the artillery gun will be linked to the conditional dimensions of the human body. If you have a correctly executed cardboard master model, you can begin to manufacture a similar one, but from wood.
In working with this material, it is recommended to use a varnish that will hold together small parts and prevent their displacement. In order for the tools to have a flat surface, they should be filed with a file. The product is recommended to be impregnated with ordinary copper sulfate, which can be purchased at a hardware store. The impregnation process itself is not laborious: copper sulfate must be diluted in a small container, in which the guns should be dipped alternately. As the guns begin to darken, they need to be removed from the solution and processed with felt and paste (goy or asidol). This procedure can be performed several times. After surface treatment, the guns will have a plausible bronze color.
