Black Powder Cannons

[Rednine11]

Anyone mess with them?
Got the fever to buy one.

[Hydrocket]

My step-father MADE one! He made it to shoot golf balls. And man OH man...that sucker could shoot them over a mile (literally)!

[trekkor]

Google 'mythbusters cannon'...

report back what a good idea this is.


KT

[Rednine11]

[QUOTE=trekkor;6710836]Google 'mythbusters cannon'...

report back what a good idea this is.

I heard about the Mythbusters mess. I would probably just blank fire it or maybe golf balls like HydroRocket was talking about.

[trekkor]

What could possibly go wrong?


KT

[Rusty Heap]

No, never heard of these things...........


except for this late 1800's early 1900's Coast Guard Signaling device that gets pulled out once in a while for me to wipe the dust off it.

Occasionally I accidentally spill 1/2-3/4's of a 35mm film canister of FF powder down the barrel, wadding up toilet paper into a ball and ramming it home, then some waterproof green M-80 fuse and a match is the only way I know how to clean the powder out of it.

Guess I should just take it to the local metal recycler, as it weighs near 60 pounds of solid cast iron.

I'm sure scrap metal is all it's good for..................except for that 20 foot long and 12 foot diameter cloud of smoke and noise that helps with mosquito control in the yard.

Don't you just LOVE what your Mom finds at a Garage Sale as a gift for you, then asks with a serious face, "you're really not going to shoot that are you?"


Well DUHHHH!


THANKS MOM!!!

[Rednine11]

Thanks Rusty. cool post that's a nice little cannon. You must have a really cool mom
I am looking at a 300 pound live field cannon barrel. I'd have to build a carriage for it and track down some wagon wheels.
They said 2-3 ounces of powder is nothing for it.

[Rusty Heap]

My high school horticulture teacher.............grins..........


...........was into Civil war re-enactments, full dress costume and the whole bit.



they owned a LARGE black powder cannon, and during re-enactments would fire at a bed sheet "target" with red spray paint bulls-eye, at 1/4 mile range I think.


the bore of the cannon was something like 2 1/4" inches, and fully rifled with a twist.

When they were just shooting it for fun off of a beach cliff, they'd use a concrete filled Aluminum pop can as a full-metal jacket round, to not bugger up the rifling of the barrel, I forget if they could shoot a mile or two out.


BUT the powder alone got expensive really quick!!! Hence why I like to just accidentally spill a couple 35 mm film canisters during a day.


and you want a 300 pound beast? that's going to be a mother to haul around!!!
What's the bore and barrel length? post a picture!

[Rednine11]

Here is the one I found and description :
Barrel is 43"long, breech diameter 7". Steel lined, 2 1/4" smoothbore has a 1/4" fuse hole with 2" trunnions. Barrel is sand cast
shipping weight is 300 pounds

[nota]

i HAVE A REAL CANNON

not very big but real
1800 era hong-kong junk arm
bronze about 9'' long
more of a hand/rail mount shotgun
they fired broken glass rocks bones ect

every boat needs a cannon

also have grand dads ball and cap 22 pistol with an octagon barrel

btw in fla a black powder gun is not a firearm by law

[jriera]

You call that a cannon??

THIS is a cannon (a bowling ball black powder cannon)

[Superman]

One of the fraternities at my Alma Mater was situated on a hill, and they had a working cannon. Bore was about the size of a tennis ball. 'Nuff said.

[daepp]

I hear there's one available for free down in east San Diego county. Contact the local sheriffs dept for more info!

[Rednine11]

[QUOTE=nota;6711084]i HAVE A REAL CANNON

not very big but real
1800 era hong-kong junk arm
bronze about 9'' long

If it isn't too much trouble could you post of pic of it or one like it ??

[wdfifteen]

When I published a civil war history magazine I saw a lot of them at reenactions. They never used any kind of shot, of course. Loud, percussive sound, lots of smoke - hurt my ears and burned my eyes. This was fun?

[Jeff Higgins]

Be very, very careful with these - they can do more than just put an eye out...

When I was an active long range black powder cartridge rifle competitor, one of my regular opponents was a gunsmith out of Tacoma, WA. At the time, he must have built about half the rifles on the line. He also built cannons for the re-enactor set. Every now and then he would rope a few of us into crewing it for him.

This was serious business. He insisted we all read some original Civil War manual he had before we could even go near the thing. He then drilled us pretty thoroughly before we would go "live". There was a lot more to it than one might think - a very regimented routine to clean, load, clean again, and load again. Everyone on the crew had a role, and every task had to be performed with great care a discipline. Failing to do so could very easily kill someone. Or everyone...

There are two primary ways to kill at least one guy, if not all of them. Number one is failing to ensure all burning embers left in the barrel are extinguished before re-charging the piece. Seems obvious enough, but it's amazing how many times this used to be missed in the heat of battle, when guys were somewhat hurried. No excuse now, when guys only do this for fun, but that is why we drill - the wet swabbing drill is so important that it be carried out precisely and consistently - no shortcuts or "good enoughs".

The other, more dangerous way to likely get everyone is to fail to fully seat the next projectile on the powder. This is another reason why the swabbing is so important - fouling left in the barrel pushes up in a "ring" that will seat on the charge, but will hold the projectile off of the charge. The airspace will result in detonation, and likely burst the barrel.

Speaking of barrels, not all barrels are even safe to shoot. Even ones advertised as such. Bill used to get all of his barrels out of a forge in Idaho somewhere. They were the only ones he trusted. Interesting enough, they were also commonly bored for aluminum pop cans or steel soup cans. The serious shooters, who actually compete in target matches, fill these with concrete and use them as giant wadcutters. Lots cheaper to shoot and more accurate than round balls. They saved those for the re-enactments - not that they ever loaded and fired them, but the cannon had to have a stack of balls next to it to be credible at all.

Anyway, the smaller replicas are essentially just muzzle loading rifles on a cannon carriage, and can be loaded and treated in the same manner in absolute safety. "Real" cannon, however, are nothing to trifle with. They demand a good deal of respect and knowledge if one hopes to shoot them safely. If you are serious about it, do some research and see what is out there before buying anything. Like anything else, you get what you pay for. The recognized, competent manufacturers are not cheap. A good, serviceable, safe cannon will easily run $5,000 to $10,000 for a full scale example. They are not to be purchased on a whim, just for the hell of it.

The ones that only shoot a wad of newspaper are a different story. They can be had for much less. All of the loading and cleaning discipline still applies, but the threat of a burst barrel through improper seating is gone. If all you want is something that goes "boom", they are great good fun. The real shooters, though, will set you back a fair piece.

[nota]

pic of a very similar hand cannon to my piece
as it has the yoke to rail mount the gun [looks like an oar lock ]
and the extra bit on the end to attach a bamboo part so you do not hold the hot gun
the bamboo also helps with recoil and aim
but these are close in shot guns

http://www.acant.org.au/Articles/MalayCannons_files/Lela_miniature.jpg

from this site pic is about mid page

Cannons of the Malay Archipelago

[John Rogers]

Jeff is spot on about the safety issues with BP cannons. One item I did not see mentioned is where and how to get BP and that can be a tremendous headache. Additionally it is usually sold in 1 lb cans and a can might cost $$$$$$ and be good for 4 or 5 loads. Another is storage and in many places you have issues with how and where to store it. In CA it is the local fire departments and I checked with two locally and the folks I talked with had no idea what, if any the rules were??!!

The issue with embers is very true and by their nature the cannon does not shoot very clean so there is lots of embers and other possible ignition sources in the breach. Not just dumping the powder in usually does no harm, it is when you ram-rod it tight and there are sparks inside the compressed powder that the accidental boom occurs. There are several holes in the roof of the main range at our Dulzura range east of San Diego where muzzle loaders were reloading too fast and had a round ball go bang into the roof!

[fanaudical]

My only casual experience with these is all bad (sorry - not going to share). I'd find other pursuits.

[Rednine11]

I am aware of the obvious safety issues with these things, I am getting the answers I needed in your guys post. As far as B Powder goes I live in WV so I can get it just about anywhere here. there is a muzzle loader supply shop a mile from my home. I just bought a can of BP and some fuse there last Sat for a small cannon I have. been having alot of fun with it. The fuse I have burns at 30 seconds a foot so a foot or two should give me plenty of time to get to safe ground...keep the comments coming.
And for the record, I do plan on blank firing this thing. not sure if I will ever load anything into it besides powder and paper....
wait 15 minutes between shots. wet swab the barrel to cool hot spots.. a good friend of mine is head of the historical soc. here and big time into civil war reenactment so he is helping me too. they fire them alot.. we actually have a civil war fort in my home town.so this stuff is kinda big here