• Registered: 2010-10-15
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Topic: Cheonbochong (천보총) and other wall guns

The cheonbochong, which literally means "thousand pace gun", was a type of matchlock wall gun used in Korea in the 18th and 19th centuries.  There is a historic record of one firing more than a thousand paces, but many firearms scholars believe it mainly meant a gun that could shoot a long distance.  There are a few reputed cheonbochongs in Korea, but it's hard to say if they are truly that type of firearm or not.  Some are probably just jang jochong (장조총), or "long matchlock". 

A cheonbochong reported back in 1931 by John Boots was 5'5" long and weighed 22 pounds.  A similar matchlock is in the Korean Army Museum at the Korea Military Academy, but is slightly shorter; it is about .75 caliber (some wall guns go up to around 1.0 caliber).

My hope is to, someday, have a reproduction matchlock wall gun made and test it out.

I am attaching Boots' book on Korean arms and armor (It has a large section on bows, too!) for your information.

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J.L.Boots.pdf 6.5 mb, 26 downloads since 2012-02-26 

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  • jbl
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  • Registered: 2010-10-20
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Re: Cheonbochong (천보총) and other wall guns

Thanks for the download.  I have been looking for something on the Korean arms.

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