The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• "son of a gun"

  (Phrase Origins)
  
  

  
  dates from 1708; therefore, NOT son of a "shotgun marriage", which
  is only recorded from 1922.  Possibly, it means "cradled in the
  gun-carriage of a ship"; allegedly, the place traditionally given to
  women on board who went into labour -- the only space affording her
  any privacy and without blocking a gangway -- was between two guns.
  Or it may mean more simply "son of a soldier".

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Phrase Origins: "son of a gun"', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 5318), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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