A _Real_ Blast From The Past: 3 Ga.

[Lee Lapin]

... a 3 Ga. 'punt gun' shell that is, for sale on eBay.

See

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3668512816&category=7309&ssPageName=Merch06

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Punt guns were used by market hunters in times gone by (when such activities were not only legal but provided a livelihood for many) to kill large numbers of waterfowl on the water with a single shot. The hunters used small low profile boats, called punts, to sneak up on the waterfowl, thus the name punt gun.

lpl

-edited to fix link, I hope...
...AND spelling, I hope...

[Lee Lapin]

Here it is, next to a .22 rimfire round.

[Lee Lapin]

Punt with punt gun aboard:

http://www.duckboats.net/images/poison24.jpg

[Dave McCracken]

Punt guns are small artillery, not large shoulder arms. A variety of these can be seen in the Upper Bay Museum in Havre De Grace,MD,or over on the Shore. Most, both ML and cartridge, are 19th Century. By 1900 the repeating 12 gauge was proving the better choice.

BTW, that boat is a typical Sneakboat, used from Barnegat Bay to Pamlico Sound. Some examples still have staples on the gunwales and cover for attaching vegetation and burlap as camo. The gun in the pic is probably about a 4 gauge.