Leather cannon

The leather cannon, or leather gun, was an experimental weapon, first used in northern Europe in the 1620s. The aim was to construct a light and cheap weapon that would bridge the gap between the hand-held musket and the heavy stationary cannon. The varnished leather from which the gun got its name acted merely as the outer protective surface of the piece.

The first working examples were built by Swiss and Austrian engineers. The first attempts to use them in combat were made by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, during the Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629), but were largely unsuccessful. They were used extensively during the English Civil Wars in the 1640s and 1650s, especially in Scotland.