Arheoloogiline eksperiment Otepää varspüssi rekonstruktsiooniga [Archaeological experiment with a reconstructionof the Otepää handgonne]

Abstract

Eesti vanima tulirelva taktikalis-tehniliste näitajate analüüs
Analysis of the tactical and technical characteristics of the oldest Estonian firearm

The paper describes a series of tests performed with a reconstruction of the oldest known firearm in Estonia – a 15th-century handgonne from the castle of Otepää. Th e purpose of the experiment was to investigate the impact of the earliest hand-held firearms on 15th-century European warfare. As there have been many well-documented experiments with reconstructed late mediaeval bows and crossbows published in recent years, it was possible to compare the results tothe performance of this reconstructed early hand-held firearm. The experiments included penetration tests into solid pinewood and muzzle velocity measurements. It was concluded that judging from the results of the experiments, the early hand-held firearms were vastly superior compared to the mechanical missile weapons of the time, both in terms of penetrative properties and the kinetic energy of the attack.