Not a great picture… but a Tredegar live shot….
Good chronograph for a black powder cannon??
- Thread starter stefan73
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Preparing the “Mighty Gun”. I’m kneeling in the red gingham trade shirt. If you zoom in on my right knee, you may be able to see the carronade.
The Gun line from the cannon shoot. Everything from a desktop carronade to a soup can mortar.
In Vietnam, we could watch our mortar rounds entire flight. Now if we cranked up the charge, the round could not be seen. However, on the hill, if a fire mission needed that much range, we just called in the 8 inchers that were on Bayonet or Fat City. They had DT’s set on our hill from over the mountain with accuracy that would impress @lowlight
Joking with a coworker this morning about buying a helicopter (because I've had campers in my yard that never went anywhere and boats that never went in the water, a helicopter that didn't fly was next), I said what I really wanted to buy/build was a cannon for my yard. You know, just to frighten the neighbors even more. He said he had a friend with one, been sitting in his garage for years untouched. I was like... "You have my attention." 
Made the mistake of shooting a couple muzzleloaders over a traditional chronograph for several hours one day. I was trying to get the fouling out of the sensor windows for the rest of the time I owned it.
Made the mistake of shooting a couple muzzleloaders over a traditional chronograph for several hours one day. I was trying to get the fouling out of the sensor windows for the rest of the time I owned it.
The wife (behind me in the first picture) keeps reminding me that we have NO room for a canon (scale or otherwise) so don’t go looking.
A Gun scaled to use golf balls is “hopefully“ in the future. The era is the hard part, do I go with a fur trade/Western Expansion or American Civil War? The hard decisions.
If any of you guys are interested, I work part time at a place that sells powder pretty cheap and the shipping on quantities relevant to cannons is very reasonable.
PM me. The boss is a world champion black powder cartridge shooter so we literally buy powder in the tons.
Also, @sirhrmechanic for all your obscure cartridge needs. I shipped some 43 Egyptian for a guy the other day for example.
PM me. The boss is a world champion black powder cartridge shooter so we literally buy powder in the tons.
Also, @sirhrmechanic for all your obscure cartridge needs. I shipped some 43 Egyptian for a guy the other day for example.
For years building a golf ball firing muzzle loading rifle has been my dream. Concerns were it being very crude and dangerous or not crude and extremely expensive. The problem with extremely expensive, I mean, besides being extremely expensive, is that the ROI may be very poor. Like the AR upper can cannon, I wanted one a long time. When I finally got one it was awesome and loads of fun... for about a half an hour. Then it was "now what?". That's my fear with a custom golf ball rifle.
He's also filmed what happens to supersonic balls, amongst other various balls relate experiments.
WRT velocity. I imagine that an iron cannon shot would not be much over 1200-1300. I mean think about regular BP rounds…they don’t get over that fps regardless of how much powder you put under them unless you use a lighter projectile and then they (.577/450) got to 1750 fps. BP shotgun shells are the same…you really can’t make magnums out of them
Dang, Boys AT and a Hotchkiss! I sold my Hotchkiss carriage to Marshall. He's going to barrel it with a brad 25mm barrel. I saw a 37mm for $34k for sale in Texas with some ammo. If only the economy was still rocking.
I've posted before... but thanks for reposting... this is one of the coolest videos on YouTube...
Cheers!
Sirhr
In Baghdad 05/06 the combat outpost I was on was so small that when the Shia from Sadr City tried to mortar us they would miss and hit the Sunni area which would cause the Sunni's to return fire on Sadr City. We just sat on my little team house roof and watched the mortars go back and forth. Good times.
I saw someone using a scaled up pellet design that looked really interesting. His design was much larger then my bore. Have you seen anything like that?
You mentioned sights, what are you using? I am just eyeballing for the most part and measuring the angle from the bore.
Give me until this weekend and I'll post some pictures. Pendulum Haase and some other goodies.
One of my best flea market finds was a Revolutionary War Haase that was being sold as a 'Carpenters Level.'
Winning!
Cheers,
Sirhr
@sirhrmechanic
I was thinking about upscaling something like the NOE bullet molds https://noebulletmolds.com/site/300-46-rf-cc4/
My bore is 2.31" and I figure that with a flared out rear for sealing and wadding I should get a good seal at around 2.25" diameter. Thoughts? Know any math whizzes?
Or do you recommend something else for a smooth bore?
I was thinking about upscaling something like the NOE bullet molds https://noebulletmolds.com/site/300-46-rf-cc4/
My bore is 2.31" and I figure that with a flared out rear for sealing and wadding I should get a good seal at around 2.25" diameter. Thoughts? Know any math whizzes?
Or do you recommend something else for a smooth bore?
Here is what I use in the Mountain rifle specifically. It's turned aluminum. It's just a few thousandths (freebore) smaller than the minor diameter of the rifling (land-to-land). So it slides down the barrel with no pressure, even a fouled tube. Though we swab between every shot!!!!
Powder goes in a tinfoil 'package' that has been compressed in a home-made tool. And use friction primers to fire.
The skirt on this expanded perfectly, just like a big, aluminum minie. My design 'is' a bit like an air rifle pellet with a waist in the middle. And the major diameter at the front just about the size of the lands. And the 'rear' designed to expand into the lands.
Overall weight is 'somewhere' around a pound. Maybe a bit less. Probably not too far off the original cast-iron 'shell' which would have been hollow to carry a black powder explosive charge and a fuse. No idea the velocity. But the energy is substantial! As I mentioned, punched through four rows of tires filled with Staymatte gravel.
My guess is that a similar projectile, with a hollow skirt, would work fine in a smoothbore. With the tail providing some kind of stabilization. If it didn't stabilize, it would be one hell of a whistler, though!
I'll post some sight pictures this weekend!
Cheers,
Sirhr
PS.... one of my winter projects is to create some canister rounds for the Howitzer... I need to come up with a source of cheap cast-iron balls. I've seen 'piles' of them outside mines and mills out west... used to pulverize stone. But the shipping would be a killer! If anyone knows where I can get a few hundred pounds of 3/4" +- cast iron balls... for peanuts.... let me know!
I am also putting the powder in aluminum foil, punching and running a wick for firing. I use hamburger bun for wadding (I know some people use damp newspaper). Friction fuse would be fun, I would like to try and make some. I didn't know you had the end hollow. That helps me a lot. I just need a mill
- Nov 3, 2010
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Couldn’t you use cast lead? May be some deformation in the back of the shell, but the front should come out clean?
Probably a little wily and hard to control, but a shitload of BBs would be fun and make some interesting noise.
Fun fact on the canister round. I was deployed with the unit that had the first documented use of one on dismounted personnel in combat. Fired from an M1ASEP in Iraq circa 2006.
I could use lead... but it would take hours of casting and be... spendy! Cast iron balls (from grinding mills) are basically trash once they are 'worn out.' But they aren't trash in my neighborhood.
And are much lighter. A 'lead' canister charge would weigh a ton! Which is why they used lighter cast iron.
Cheers,
Sirhr
All turned on a lathe... Just drill a pilot hole and use a boring bar.I am also putting the powder in aluminum foil, punching and running a wick for firing. I use hamburger bun for wadding (I know some people use damp newspaper). Friction fuse would be fun, I would like to try and make some. I didn't know you had the end hollow. That helps me a lot. I just need a mill
I had them down to 15 minutes each on the monarch when I was really cranking!
Cheers,
Sirhr
