Carronade.
The Caronnade.
GK crossword clue 15across Sat Telegrah
That would be the Carronade, developed at the Carron Iron Works
An Artillery piece (large cannon) or gun firing a large calibre shell. When the shell landed this would be an artillery explosion.
A calibre is a form of measurement describing the diameter of an object (such as a bullet). One calibre is equal to 0.254 millimeters or 0.01 inches. A fifty calibre bullet is 12.7 millimeters or 0.5 inches in diameter. So high-calibre describes an object (like a bullet) with a very large diameter Other definitions can be found if you google "define: calibre" or "define: caliber".
Artillery . :]
They used matchlock and wheel-lock firearms, which were barrel-loading single-shot weapons that used external application of gunpowder. These included pistols, muskets, arquebus (a kind of large-calibre heavy rifle that was supported on a bipod), and of course heavy cannon.
There is really no antonym for the word cannon, but cannon does really mean large gun so the antonym would logically be small gun.
Cannon.
shoots stuff
A cannon or howitzer are names for large guns.
A Machine gun can be hand held, and it functions by shooting rapid fire, while a cannon only shoots one large cannon and then you would need to re load it.