A cane gun is a walking cane with a hidden gun built into it. Cane guns are sometimes mistaken for similar-looking "poacher's guns".
These are usually a more portable and more easily concealed version of conventional sporting guns, commonly a single- or double-barreled shotgun, based on the relatively inexpensive Belgian Leclercq action.[1]
With this and similar designs, a folding short-barrelled shotgun can be made to fold back until it lies beneath the stock, so that it can be carried under a coat.
An alternative form is in effect a very long-barrelled pistol fitted with a detachable, sometimes called "take-down", or folding skeleton stock, though any sporting weapon that requires assembly has obvious drawbacks in the field.
In purely practical terms, the distinction is that cane guns, far more costly to produce and, generally speaking, an affectation, ostensibly carried by gentlemen who wished, at all times, to be able to take "targets of opportunity",[2] were a curio, a talking point, or a concealed offensive weapon, one that might easily escape detection unless closely examined. In addition to gentleman's canes, guns have also been concealed in other common items such as umbrellas and walking sticks.
By contrast, a poacher's gun is very obviously a firearm, albeit one easily concealed by those legitimately going about in the countryside unarmed, by those who carried a gun for ad hoc hunting for the pot or for self-defense, as opposed to a far-less-portable, pure-game gun, though these cross into the survival category.
Cane guns are now very rare and difficult to find, since most contravene legislation prohibiting carrying concealed weapons,[3] and period examples, where permitted, are, generally speaking, in the hands of private collectors and museums.
Modern, cartridge-type cane guns are usually fitted to fire large, low-pressure handgun cartridges or .410 bore up to 12-gaugeshotgun shells, both of which are well-suited in a weapon that is effectively just a barrel with an integrated chamber, manual ejection, a detachable firing mechanism, a rudimentary grip, and in some cases primitive sights.
Other types of cane guns have been produced as air weapons,[4] generally using some form of detachable pressurized air reservoir (a pneumatic air weapon) in the form of a flask,[5] or integrated into the form of a more generously proportioned stick, such as a traditional shillelagh. Some are effectively dart-firingblowpipes, which are far easier to disguise, being little more than a hollow tube. The weapon was used during a bank robbery in the Pizza Bomber Case.
Cane Canadian English Cané Paolo Canè Hozan Canê Assistive cane Caning White cane Cane Corso Cane Hill College Luiz Cané Candy cane Cane Ridge, Kentucky Cane River Lake Edmund Frederick Du Cane Cane toads in Australia Cane Ashby Cane rat Cane toad Percy Stephen Cane David Cane Charles Du Cane Cane (novel) Miguel Cané Bill Cane Bayou Cane, Louisiana Cane Pace James Cane Grand Cane, Louisiana Cane Hill Hospital Cane turtle Cane knife Florence Cane Finnr's Cane Caning in Singapore Cane Island (Katy, Texas) Mondo Cane Candy Cane Lane Mark Cane Cane gun Cora Cané Du Cane Facino Cane Daniel Ca…
ne Zatoichi's Cane Sword Sugar Cane farmers unions in Fiji John Philip Du Cane Rudolph C. Cane Cane Beds, Arizona Holing cane Cane Creek Cane River National Heritage Area Federation of Cane Growers Humberto Cané Andrew Cane Miguel Cané, La Pampa Cane Valley, Kentucky Cane (TV series) Melville Henry Cane Greater cane rat Cane Beetles March Lesser cane rat Cane Paratore Purple Cane, Nebraska Thomas Cane Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux metropolitan area Sugar Cane (1786 ship) Indian Cane Growers Association Caning (furniture) Kirby Cane Ain't No More Cane Cane Run Generating Station Sugar Cane (musical group) Sugar Cane Growers Council Cane toads (disambiguation) Facino Cane (short story) Adaptations of Australian animals to cane toads Peter Du Cane Caning in Malaysia Richard Du Cane Peter Du Cane (boat designer) Cane Creek (Chestatee River tributary) Battle of Cane Hill R (Christie Elan-Cane) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Arnold J. Cane Naso di cane Vincent Canes Dermolepida albohirtum Cane, U.S. Virgin Islands Peter Du Cane Sr. Cane Hill Township, Washington County, Arkansas Cane Spree Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Cane Hill (EP) Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane Ca
