“Jingal” was the name the British gave to both Indian and Chinese rampart guns used form the 1700s up until World War II. The guns were originally muzzle loaders, used in fixed defensive emplacements. They had exceptionally long barrels (60″ or more), and were used to fire off rampart walls as a sort of precision artillery. The very long sight radius gave them better practical accuracy than smaller shoulder rifles, and the large calibers used were effective at long range. The massive size of these pieces is hard to describe:
Ian with a .60 caliber Chinese "Jingal" wall gun
This particular gun is one of the more common types to be found today, a single-shot bolt action in .60 caliber (others were also made in .75 caliber). The gun has a rear sight adjustable for elevation and a dovetail for the missing front sight. The mechanism is a simple interrupted thread at the back of the bolt. The extractor, firing pin, and trigger mechanism are all typical of Mauser type rifles. This rifle most likely dates from the late 1880s or 1890s.
The cartridge is a slightly tapered and slightly bottlenecked black powder design, using an unjacketed lead bullet. Here is an example, with a 7.62x54R and .50 BMG for comparison:
.60 Jingal cartridge (7.62x54R and .50 BMG for comparison)
Our friend Bin Shih was kind enough to translate the marking on the receiver, which read “Produced by Tien Jin South Bureau Arsenal in the year of Bing Shen [1896] of Emperor Gung Xu”. The Tien Jin arsenal produced many Jingal rifles, which may be due in part to the presence of Western troops there during the Boxer rebellion.
Photos
Chinese Jingal wall gun in .60 caliber (click here to download at high resolution):
When I look at that – all I can think of is that movie High Road to China with Tom Sellack. I think a few of those wound up in Florida back in the last century for bird hunting.
Is there any ballistic data of this breast (bullet weight, MV, ME etc.)?
*beast
How much would this weigh?
About 40 or 45 pounds.
SAW ONE OF THESE AT KNOB CREEK GUN SHOW COUPLE YEARS AGO. WANTED ONE EVER SINCE. SAW SOME IN CHINA IN MUSEUMS. IS IT LEGAL TO BUY AND IS ANYONE SELLING? ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE ANTIQUE REPLICAS ETC. HOW WOULD I GET STARTED IN THIS. BEEN WORKING WITH HAND AND POWER TOOLS SINCE VERY YOUNG, HAVE MY OWN GRINDERS, CUTTERS ETC. ANY HELP?
I had one of these 30 years ago, with several rounds of original ammunition. The bore measured 1.025″ and was rifled. The bolt and action used an interrupted thread, similar to the example. The piece was 78″ overall. Weight was 42 lbs.
The cartridge case was 4.01″ in length,rimmed, made of brass.Primed with a 1/4″ diameter Berdan primer.
The projectile was 1.04″ in diameter, 1.19″ in length, with a full diameter round nose. Weight was 1.25 ounces.
Propellant was apparently black powder, hand formed into 1/8″ cubes. Never weighed the charge.
Lathe turned some reduced capacity cases out of solid brass stock that would take 100grs of Fg black powder, a shotgun primer and a 1″ diameter lead ball, paper patched to 1.4″.
Firing at 100 yds I could keep all shots on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ target.
The piece is long gone and so are the cartridges, which sold for $75.00 each.
It was a head tuner at the local rifle range.
As far as manufacturing an example of the rifle, be sure to have the approval of the BATF, in writing,I’m sure this will fall under the “distructive device” category.
Caliber’s (much) greater that .50, so yes. Destructive device for sure.
HOLY S***! THAT THING IS HUGE!
have any video or additional pictures for it? or can you shoot this crazy s**t?
Hello Ian
Just viewed your web site. I am in the process of obtaining a Chinese “Jingal” Wall Gun. I am just wondering whether you are able to give me some advices on value of this type of rifles
Thanks in advance
Jason
Hey Art. The ones used for bird hunting were called punt guns and as far as i know were shotguns. Mount em on a boat and wipe out a whole flock in one shot.
The recoil on that thing must have been a real bitch
Well, yes and no. It’s a pretty big cartridge, but it’s also a pretty heavy gun. I don’t know what the ballistics on the cartridge were, but it was still black powder – so I wouldn’t be surprised it it was actually relatively comfortable to shoot (if not to hold up).
Hello, would you please take a couple extra pictures of this rifle? I’m interested in a profile view of the gun on a background (both sides), just to show the firearm as a whole.
I apologize if this sounds picky, but for the side pictures, please try to have it as straight as possible. It doesn’t matter much for the picture of the sight, I just need to know what it looks like.
I’m a 3D artist, and I do most of my work based on profile images of my projects used as backgrounds. If the image is slanted a bit from the program’s grid, I’ll be able to manage. The rest of your images show pretty much all other details that I’d need.
Sorry, Thomas, but I don’t have regular access to the gun – it was something I photographed while visiting a private collection. If I get back there I will take a few more shots, though.