Falconet
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 1200 mm
- Weight, empty
- 90.72 kg
- Introduced
- 1500
About
What it is, and why it matters
The falconet was a light black-powder muzzle-loading cannon that bridged the gap between the heavy musket and full field artillery. Named after the falcon, in keeping with the period habit of decorating gun barrels with animals scaled to the piece, it typically had a bore of about two inches and fired a one-pound iron round ball, or grapeshot for anti-personnel work. Lighter and cheaper than culverins and sakers, it served from the late 15th to the 17th century as mobile light field artillery and as a swivel-mounted anti-boarding gun aboard light warships.
Falconets earned their name from a fashion of casting reptiles and birds of prey onto gun barrels sized to the animal, with some pieces given a falcon's open jaws at the muzzle so the shot seemed to fly from the bird's mouth.
Specifications drawn from surviving bronze examples (overall length ~162cm, bore ~47-50mm) and the Royal Artillery Museum field gun (1.9-inch bore). Piece weight ranged 80-200kg; the value here (~90kg) is a representative figure. Range estimates vary widely between sources; Spanish gunnery doctrine of 1592 gave an effective range near 190m and a maximum near 690m, while other sources cite a maximum closer to 1,500m. A breech-loading falconet appeared in 1620s Germany.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Various cannon foundries
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1500 to 1700
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 1200 mm
- Overall length
- 1622 mm
- Weight, empty
- 90.72 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Muzzleloader
- Capacity
- 1
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Wood
- Barrel
- Bronze
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Effective range
- 190 m
- Maximum range
- 1500 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Touch hole ignition- Linstock fired
- Two wheeled carriage
Muzzle loaded- Grapeshot capable
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 90.72 kg | 3.50 kg | Among the heaviest tenth |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1622 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 1200 mm | 584 mm | Among the longest tenth |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 1 | 5 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Falconet
How much does the Falconet weigh?
The Falconet weighs 90.72 kg (200.00 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Falconet?
The Falconet is chambered in 1-pounder round shot (~50mm).
How many rounds does the Falconet hold?
The Falconet holds 1 rounds.
How long is the Falconet?
The Falconet is 1622 mm (63.9 in) long overall, with a 1200 mm (47.2 in) barrel.
Who makes the Falconet?
The Falconet is made by Various cannon foundries (France).
When was the Falconet introduced?
The Falconet was introduced in 1500 and discontinued in 1700.
How does the Falconet operate?
The Falconet uses a muzzleloader action.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- European land armies
- United Kingdom
- Naval forces
- United Kingdom
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/falconet' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "falconet", "name": "Falconet", "manufacturer": { "id": "unknown-foundry", "name": "Various cannon foundries", "countryCode": "FR", "foundedYear": null, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "67925534e4632b8c1dd0c7ee08b40168f85cb0943b8662de72907844baa2b587" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "GB", "year_introduced": 1500, "barrel_length_mm": 1200, "weight_empty_g": 90718, "action_type": "muzzleloader"}