salute cannon. 21 inches long with a 1" bore. Plan to fire 200-250 grains of Pyrodex.

Izzat yours?

Paul

Quote from: gitano;151383Izzat yours?

Paul

Nope. My friend from Kalifornia bought it and had it shipped to me. He is hoping to put in in a gun case and take it back on the plane in 2 weeks. Steve and Mike arrive next week on Thursday. We should make a lot of noise around here. I built the temporary carriage so we can shoot the thing. If it works as advertised, I will probably buy one from the same guy and build a 1/5 replica carriage with wheels and all. Should be great fun on the 4th!

Reminds me of a cannon built by the son of Jack Weichold many years ago. Jack owned Weichold Arms & Deep Hole Drilling in Cincinnati. The kid loaded the cannon with something like 100 grains of FFFG & a one inch diameter super ball & lit the fuse in the shop. Seems like the super ball bounced around the shop for 10 minutes. No place in the shop was safe from it. RIP, Jack.   .......Paul H

Quote from: Paul Hoskins;151389Reminds me of a cannon built by the son of Jack Weichold many years ago. Jack owned Weichold Arms & Deep Hole Drilling in Cincinnati. The kid loaded the cannon with something like 100 grains of FFFG & a one inch diameter super ball & lit the fuse in the shop. Seems like the super ball bounced around the shop for 10 minutes. No place in the shop was safe from it. RIP, Jack.   .......Paul H

We just plan to shoot shredded paper and tin foil.....it's a noise and smoke maker and that's as far as it goes.

I had a Machinists Mate friend of mine on the boat make a brass cannon for me to mount on the handlebars of my motorcycle. It was about a foot long and about 2" in diameter at the breech end. It was actually made from two pieces of brass that Frank screwed together before he drilled the bore. I don't recall the bore, but if I had to risk a favorite appendage, I'll guess it was half an inch, but it might have been 3/4. We only fired it once. I don't recall the charge, but the projectile was a stainless steel ball bearing. We fired it - from my bike - at a cinder block about 5' away. (We didn't want to miss!) The result was impressive. We never got the two pieces apart again after firing it that one time.

Paul

We have been shooting the cannon all day long. We started experimenting with various shots and shells. We finally found a load that shows great promise. 200 grains of Pyrodex and a 1/2" CPVC 8" long capped on both ends and we are launching it to approximately 200 yards. It makes a thunderous roar and fire/smoke. One of my funnest days in 72 years!

Nice!!!!

Today's testing involved reducing powder amounts so that the 'baton' wouldn't go so far. We also decided to use my 600 foot straight gravel roadway as a path for batons to travel. Winds were light, and we enjoyed a solid overcast, providing a nice white background for pink batons flying through the air.

We used 3 different types of batons, with a number of different 'charges'. Here's the data and result of each shot fired:

1. 180 grains, 8" CPVC pipe with caps: Veered off road to the north. Estimated about 100 yards, could see entire trip. Based on way it was travelling, the back end got burned/destroyed again. We've decided to STOP using CPVC until we resolve the burning and destruction of the pipe.

2. 160 grains, NO batons, just confirmed 160 grains would go off....fired.

3. 150 grains, NO batons, confirmed would fire.

4. 150 grains, 3/4" OAK wooden dowel, nearly horizontal barrel setting...visibly tumbling whole way, easy to track: 428 feet

5. 150 grains, 7/8" OAK wooden dowel, nearly horizontal barrel setting.....harder to track: 550 feet, exactly.

6. 200 grains, SAME 7/8 OAK wooden dowel, nearly horizontal barrel setting...approx. 575 feet, didn't leave mark in road, but made 25 feet further than last shot (a lot more powder only yielded an extra 25 feet.

7. 150 grains, NEW 7/8 OAK wooden dowel, 45 degree inclination, ONLY 398 feet. This is due to the wind resistance of the tumbling baton. Once it slows down, it no longer can travel the distance. A flatter shot goes further. Wooden (Oak) dowels survive the blast and are reusable but need repainting after several shots.

Awesome, that looks like a lot of fun.

Rick,

Drag the cannon down to your pond.  Wait until Fall when the ducks arrive.  Load that bruiser with nails, ball bearings, etc. and light the wick.  Boom!  That's what the market hunters did back in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  P.S.:  Don't brag about this anywhere the game wardens might hear you...  

No chance Bill, said he would dob me in for shooting a turkey with a rifle...

Quote from: j0e_bl0ggs;151450No chance Bill, said he would dob me in for shooting a turkey with a rifle...

I don't know what dob me in means but I would be forced to do my civic duty and confiscate your ammo. We would not throw the bird out as that would be wasteful!

Here ya go Rick   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dob