How bullets were loaded into the Tsar Cannon – Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia The other day I was walking along Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, and the guide told an interesting story about the Tsar Cannon. How do you think in those days they could load huge (1.2 tons) cannonballs into the Tsar Cannon? Some kind of mechanism? We all remember that the Tsar Cannon, standing in the courtyard of the Moscow Kremlin, was thrown by the famous Russian master Andrei Chokhov on the orders of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. A giant cannon weighing 39,312 kg was fired in 1586 at the Moscow Cannon Yard. In our time, historians were generally sure that the cannon had never fired, since no documents were preserved about the testing of the Tsar Cannon or its use in combat conditions. At the same time, a significant part of military historians believe that the Tsar Cannon is a shotgun, that is, a weapon designed to be fired from shotguns. Because the study of the cannon hole gave the following picture: the cannon barrel is not uniform in diameter, but has a narrowing in the center. At a distance of 3190 mm, it has the shape of a cone, the initial diameter of which is 900 mm. , and the final diameter is 825 mm. Next comes the reverse-taper charging chamber - with an initial diameter of 447 mm and a final diameter (at the rear) of 467 mm. The length of the chamber is 1730 mm, the bottom is flat. However, the most recent research gives us information that the cannon was still firing. At least once. After chemical tests, gunpowder residue was discovered in the barrel. However, after comparing documents, it turned out that it was very likely that it was fired not in battle, but in the form of fireworks at one of the royal celebrations. Initially, the Tsar and Peacock guns lay on the ground near the bridge leading to the Spasskaya Tower, and the Kashpirov cannon lay near the Zemsky Prikaz, located where the Historical Museum is now located. In 1626, they were raised from the ground and installed on wooden frames, tightly compacted with earth. These platforms were called roskats. One of them, with the Tsar Cannon and Peacock, was placed at the Execution Ground, the other, with the Kashpirova cannon, at the Nikolsky Gate. In 1636, the wooden rolls were replaced by stone ones, in which warehouses and shops selling wine were built. Currently, the Tsar Cannon is located on a decorative cast-iron carriage, and next to it lie decorative cast-iron cannons cast in 1834 in St. Petersburg at the Berdinsky Iron Foundry. It is clear that it is physically impossible to either shoot from this iron carriage or use cast iron bullets - the Tsar Cannon will break. But the diameter of the barrel and the bullet do not match! This is history. Source link Source link