“Jingal” was the name the British gave to both Indian and Chinese rampart guns used from 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:
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:
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.
“I think a few of those wound up in Florida back in the last century for bird hunting”
WHY ISNT THIS IN HUNT: SHOWDOWN??
Because it’s a military rifle
Is there any ballistic data of this breast (bullet weight, MV, ME etc.)?
the bullet itself is interchangeable for 20 gauge slugs, it is also a black powder weapon. this gun can do beastly damage but the munitions are very very rare and have to be specially made as nobody makes the brass for these monsters anymore except when their made from scratch.
If anyone reading this has a Jingal and wants to reload for it, it is very important to slug your barrel to determine the actual bore diameter. Sons of Guns does not have the time or audience interest to go into much detail, but these vintage guns can vary significantly in bore size (aside from there being Jingals in both .60 and .75 nominal calibers), and it is likely that the slugs used on the show had to be swaged slightly to reach the proper size. Failure to do this could result in excessive pressures, potentially dangerously excessive pressures.
I have one of these. Would you by chance know where I may be able to find a display/live cartridge? Thank you.
one on gunbroker now
Cardridge can’t be found, and even if you find it, it is priceless.
I made ammunition for my Jingal myself. Shell I made the sleeve from the bottom of Russian Svak20mm and the rest from .50 Fireforming with 265grain(!!) blackpowder.
Unfortunately I can’t post pictures here.
Cardridge can’t be found, and even if you find it, it is priceless.
I made ammunition for my Jingal myself. Shell I made the sleeve from the bottom of Russian Svak20mm and the rest from .50 Fireforming with 265grain(!!) blackpowder.
Unfortunately I can’t post pictures here.
*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.
It’s black powder, so does not fall under NFA ruling for classification as a DD. minnesota MIke
HOLY S***! THAT THING IS HUGE!
have any video or additional pictures for it? or can you shoot this crazy s**t?
Son’s of Guns just recently did a segment on the Jingal Gun last week.
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).
Tbhe recoil as seen on Sons of Guns was really no greater than that of a .30-06. Both the customer that brought it in and the gunshop owner that cleaned and made rounds from scratch for it shot it and they didn’t seem to be pushed back or hammered by recoil atall. Remember, these were shot by Chinese soldiers and not to poke fun, as I’ve been in the orient for 3 years, they’re not a very tall bunch. You’d expect it’d send them flying but no. Both the black powder load and weight greatly reduce the recoil but betting this gun would be fun as all hell to shoot. Wish I had one myself!
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.
I am curious about the value of a weapon like this. Any thoughts?
IIRC, the last one I saw sell went for about $3k…which I think was overpriced.
Since this was made in 1896, it is an antique under BATF standards. the shells being larger than .50 caliber might be a problem . But what an interesting piece of history.
Hi all. My dad has one of these rifles. Was passed on to him by his great uncle who used it in the guerrilla war against The Black And Tans in Ireland in the early part of the 1900s. It is huge and weighs quite a lot. It is for sale but is not in great condition.
“Tien Jin South Bureau Arsenal” later the arsenal actually produced some good quality weapons for the Chinese military during the second wold war
During WW2, the city”Tien Jin” was occupied by Japanese.
Maybe the arsenal produced some good quality weapons for the puppet government.
Tien Jin South Bureau Arsenal was actually destroyed during the boxer rebellion. In 1904, it was rebuilt in Dezhou Shandong as Beiyang Arsenal, in 1926 it was relocated to Jinan due to warlord era civil war and renamed Jinan Arsenal. After northern expedition, it was renamed again to Arsenal #30 and stayed in Jinan. In 1937, shortly after the war started, Arsenal #30 was dismantled and rebuilt in Chongqing in 1938. By that time the arsenal was specialized in mortars, mortars round and most interestly it made the Chinese copy of the Japanese Type 89 grenade mortar, the so called knee mortar.
References
http://www.chinesefirearms.com/110108/history/tientsin.htm
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1294324622
There is actually an example of one of these for sale in Edmonton, Alberta in a local store named Mil-arm co. It’s listed as having a 2 Gauge bore, so it would be interesting to take a closer look and see if it is rifled or smooth bore. Interesting to see a bit more information on that piece.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6vcy0qv5w5fa7kk/AAAjC0LYxyY4xoybmaB1lv40a?dl=0
Here is a link to pictures of my gun.
Here is a link to my Chinese wall gun.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6vcy0qv5w5fa7kk/AAAjC0LYxyY4xoybmaB1lv40a?dl=0
if you are selling a Chinese wall gun or jingal I would be interested. It would be perfect to exhibit at the local museum where I volunteer as Historical Curator
How many of them where made? And where they official in useby Chinese militairy?
Mike Long’s in Nottingham had two of these about twenty years ago at £850 each, with I’d bought them but they were SO big!
I acquired the piece from Edmonton a few years ago after Milarms closed. It is about 90 cal smoothbore. Have made up the serpentine from scratch and it is now ready to fire using homemade match soaked in saltpetre. Chinese characters on top of barrel are number 283 and identify a local region in eastern China that the translater could not identify for me. It is a big hit at local gun shows! Barrel is 75″ and weighs about 45 pounds.
Are these guns rifled?
Because it’s a military rifle.
I’m curious about the possibility of finding one of these at a somewhat reasonable price. Does anyone have any idea as to where I might find one?
I’m located in the EU but import should be possible™.
Finding is not easy and buying depends on what you find a reasonable price for yourself.
I have hopes of the price not being the biggest issue; finding these guns or the places where I could find them at all is something I really struggle with.
At least the Dutch RWM art. 18 makes it a bit less difficult to import, own and store it since I could legally use it as a wall ornament rather than needing to install an incredibly large safe.
Just finding out where I should search would go a long way.
I am one of the lucky ones in the Netherlands who has one.
Dear goodness that’s amazing. How did you even manage to get your hands on one of those?
Something is wrong, the notched rear sight is installed backwards.