During his youth in the early 1920s, Joseph-Armand Bombardier received a defective gun. Instead of discarding it, he saw an opportunity to create something new from the unusable firearm, by converting it into a miniature cannon.

The replica shown here is true to the original. It was assembled under the supervision of Joseph-Armand’s brother Alphonse-Raymond Bombardier, who sought to have it displayed at the J. Armand Bombardier Museum. The toy is made from a sawed-off gun barrel, farm machinery wheels and a sculpted wood base. At the time, the front end of the barrel was loaded with black powder, which was ignited using a striking edge at the back.