In view of the range Collado ascribes to the culverin, some remarks on gun performances are in order. "Greatest random" was what the old-time gunner called his maximum range, and random it was. Beyond point-blank range, the gunner was never sure of hitting his target. So with smoothbores, long range was never of great importance. Culverins, with their thick walls, long bores, and heavy powder charges, achieved distance; but second class guns like field "cannon," with less metal and smaller charges, ranged about 1,600 yards at a maximum, while the effective range was hardly more than 500. Heavier pieces, such as the French 33-pounder battering cannon, might have a point-blank range of 720 yards; at 200-yard range its ball would penetrate from 12 to 24 feet of earthwork, depending on how "poor and hungry" the earth was. At 130 yards a Dutch 48-pounder cannon put a ball 20 feet into a strong earth rampart, while from 100 yards a 24-pounder siege cannon would bury the ball 12 feet.

But generalizations on early cannon are difficult, for it is not easy to find two "mathematicians" of the old days whose ordnance lists agree. Spanish guns of the late 1500's do, however, appear to be larger in caliber than pieces of similar name in other countries, as is shown by comparing the culverins: the smallest Spanish culebrina was a 20-pounder, but the French great coulevrine of 1551 was a 15-pounder and the typical English culverin of that century was an 18-pounder. Furthermore, midway of the 1500's, Henry II greatly simplified French ordnance by holding his artillery down to the 33-pounder cannon, 15-pounder great culverin, 7-1/2-pounder bastard culverin, 2-pounder small culverin, a 1-pounder falcon, and a 1/2-pounder falconet. Therefore, any list like the one following must have its faults:

Principal English guns of the sixteenth century

Caliber (inches)LengthWeight of gun (pounds)Weight of shot (pounds)Powder charge (pounds)
Ft.In.
Rabinet 1.0 300 0.3 0.18
Serpentine 1.5 400 .5 .3
Falconet 2.0 3 9 500 1.0 .4
Falcon 2.5 6 0 680 2.0 1.2
Minion 3.5 6 6 1,050 5.2 3
Saker 3.65 6 11 1,400 6 4
Culverin bastard 4.56 8 6 3,000 11 5.7
Demiculverin 4.0 3,400 8 6
Basilisk 5.0 4,000 14 9
Culverin 5.2 10 11 4,840 18 12
Pedrero 6.0 3,800 26 14
Demicannon 6.4 11 0 4,000 32 18
Bastard cannon 7.0 4,500 42 20
Cannon serpentine 7.0 5,500 42 25
Cannon 8.0 6,000 60 27
Cannon royal 8.54 8 6 8,000 74 30

Like many gun names, the word "culverin" has a metaphorical meaning. It derives from the Latin colubra (snake). Similarly, the light gun called áspide or aspic, meaning "asp-like," was named after the venomous asp. But these digressions should not obscure the fact that both culverins and demiculverins were highly esteemed on account of their range and the effectiveness of fire. They were used for precision shooting such as building demolition, and an expert gunner could cut out a section of stone wall with these guns in short order.

As the fierce falcon hawk gave its name to the falcon and falconet, so the saker was named for the saker hawk; rabinet, meaning "rooster," was therefore a suitable name for the falcon's small-bore cousin. The 9-pounder saker served well in any military enterprise, and the moyana (or the French moyenne, "middle-sized"), being a shorter gun of saker caliber, was a good naval piece. The most powerful of the smaller pieces, however, was the pasavolante, distinguishable by its great length. It was between 40 and 44 calibers long! In addition, it had thicker walls than any other small caliber gun, and the combination of length and weight permitted an unusually heavy charge—as much powder as the ball weighed. A 6-pound lead ball was what the typical pasavolante fired; another gun of the same caliber firing an iron ball would be a 4-pounder. The point-blank range of this Spanish gun was a football field's length farther than either the falcon or demisaker.

In today's Spanish, pasavolante means "fast action," a phrase suggestive of the vicious impetuosity to be expected from such a small but powerful cannon. Sometimes it was termed a drajón, the English equivalent of which may be the drake, meaning "dragon"; but perhaps its most popular name in the early days was cerbatana, from Cerebus, the fierce three-headed dog of mythology. Strange things happen to words: a cerbatana in modern Spanish is a pea shooter.

Sixteenth century Spanish cannon of the second class

Spanish nameWeight of ball (pounds)Translation
Quarto cañon 9 to 12 Quarter-cannon.
Tercio cañon 16 Third-cannon.
Medio cañon 24 Demicannon.
Cañon de abatir 32 Siege cannon.
Doble cañon 48 Double cannon.
Cañon de batería 60 Battering cannon.
Serpentino Serpentine.
Quebrantamuro or lombarda 70 to 90 Wallbreaker or lombard.
Basilisco 80 and up Basilisk.

The second class of guns were the only ones properly called "cannon" in this early period. They were siege and battering pieces, and in some few respects were similar to the howitzers of later years. A typical Spanish cannon was only about two-thirds as long as a culverin, and the bore walls were thinner. Naturally, the powder charge was also reduced (half the ball's weight for a common cannon, while a culverin took double that amount).