A .410 concealed within a cane. Sounds crazy? That's because it is crazy.
Yet here it is. In this clip, Prep-RS trustee Phil Kerry demonstrates and fires just such a cane, one from his own exclusive personal collection, into bags of flour who wished they'd picked on someone less lethally dapper.
Dated around 1890, with inscriptions to suggest it belonged to a man of wealth in the City of London, the cane fires a standard .410 Bore cartridge down a smooth bore barrel, which makes up the entire length of the cane. Inside the handle is a concealed trigger mechanism, with the loading and unloading done as simply as twisting and pulling the grip of the handle until the loading chamber reveals itself. Reversing the action primes the trigger, ready for firing. Single shot and single-action only, it was presumably the first line of defence for the owner should he find himself against the perilous situation of defending himself from a sudden floury attack.
For safety reasons, all firing was done remotely in a secured and safe location. Phil Kerry is licensed to own this live-firing antiquity. Please do not attempt to recreate anything you see in this video.
The bags of flour did not survive the testing.
