[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.