Bombard
The Bombard was the first gun powdered gun. Its ammunition was balls of stone, up to up to 30 inches (75 cm) in diameter for the largest bombards. The larger part of the bombard consisted of the powder chamber, and it had a very short barrel (the length often only 1.5 times the diameter).
This meant that the accuracy was poor compared to later guns, but it was still much higher than the earlier catapults and trebuchets, and this fact, in addition to the massiveness of the stones fired, meant that the bombard was able to crumble even the thickest walls of the medieval castles in a very short time.
The main disadvantage of the Bombard was its lack of mobility. The largest were up to 15 feet (4,5 m) long and extremely heavy. This made them almost impossible to move, and often they were built where needed, instead of being transported there.
Small, early bombard. The section on the wooden base is the powder chamber. The barrel is the wider (but very short) section forward.