Gonne?

[jinjin5000]

I thought that gonne was destroyed along with its knowledge (other than Leonardo's notebook or whatever) on how to build it but the hand-gonne reappeared in the truth (after re-reading it i finally remember to take note of it) by Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip.
I thought it was gone after it was destroyed by Carrot and was buried with Cuddy?

 

[Tonyblack]

Really? I don't remember that at all.

 

[jinjin5000]

Didnt they pull out something about spring loaded hand-gonne that was described with watch doing something terrible if you shot it at them ect.
They aimed at Mr. Slant I think
Or did i misread?

 

[jinjin5000]

ah here it is

His hand darted into his jacket again, but this time came out holding a weapon. Mr. Slant looked into the muzzle of a spring-gonne

(dont know how to edit post)

is it explained anywhere?

 

[Tonyblack]

Ah, I see. This is something different I think as it's more or less a catapult or crossbow rather than working with gun powder and lead slugs like the Gonne in Men At Arms. These single shot crossbows turn up in a few of the books - The Fifth Elephant for example.

I must say that I've never noticed that the one in The Truth was called a 'gonne' before.

 

[LessHero vanU]

ah here it is

His hand darted into his jacket again, but this time came out holding a weapon. Mr. Slant looked into the muzzle of a spring-gonne

(dont know how to edit post)

is it explained anywhere?

I suppose that would be something like a spear gun, as used to be portrayed in SCUBA diving adventures, but with a spring and possibly a flechette?

 

[The Mad Collector]

Yes I think it is intended to be the same weapon used in The Fifth Elephant which is basically a tube with a powerful spring which can be held back on a catch and released by a trigger mechanism to fire a small arrow or dart.

I hadn't spotted the gonne reference before either.

 

[Dotsie]

I hadn't noticed it either, but according to L-Space it's also in TFE - the spring-gonne

 

[michelanCello]

It could be that I interpreted Men at Arms the wrong way, but didn't they bury it with Cuddy?
It was something like they were wondering where the gun had gone but they noticed that Cuddy's coffin was way more heavy than a dwarf should be...

 

[Tonyblack]

That's the way I read it too.

 

[michelanCello]

So what's the problem then? They didn't dig Cuddy up as far as I know...

 

[Tonyblack]

So what's the problem than? They didn't dig Cuddy up as far as I know...

The problem is a confusion between the gonne in Men At Arms which was powered by gunpowder and fired lead slugs and this spring-gonne which is a bolt powered by a spring.

The original poster didn't realise these were different items and assumed (I think) that the gonne of MAA was still being used.

Other than that, a lot of us seem to have totally missed the fact that the spring gonne uses the same name 'gonne' as the gunpowder one.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Doesn't Vimes more or less call it a crossbow 'hand-gonne' when Skimmer sees off the rest of the bandits in FE? Also he says something to the effect that if he had his way they'd be outlawed completely in A-M and that they'd never be used by the Watch but that he had no say in what the Patrician sanctioned for the Assassins Guild?

Anyway it's definitely not the MAA gonne as it's smaller for starters and like you're saying works with a bolt - such as those used on full-size crossbows. I think the gonne in MAA was actually more like a rifle or the early guns rather than a pistol - hence the great weight in Cuddy's coffin

 

[raisindot]

It could be that I interpreted Men at Arms the wrong way, but didn't they bury it with Cuddy?
It was something like they were wondering where the gun had gone but they noticed that Cuddy's coffin was way more heavy than a dwarf should be...

Remember, too, that the coffin was also heavy because it also contained the book of heraldship and other evidence that "proved" Carrot was king.



J-I-B