home made cannon

The cannon would be fun, but as darkgael mentioned, heavy..... probably hundreds of pounds.

Mortars are fun, too. You get a lot of the "big bore" thrill, but the weight is more manageable.

When I win the lotto, I want to get a 3/4 scale version of the 12-pounder mortar, machined from stainless steel. I'm thinking it would have a 3-1/2 inch bore, and the total weight would be under 100 pounds.
 
Yeah, I'm just thinking that something you can haul out to the boonies in the trunk of your car and shoot every week, might be more fun than a monster which requires a special trailer and a crew of men.

Guess it depends on the individual. I've got a 400-pound cannon, and a 25-pound mortar. Guess which one I've had the most fun with?
 
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I had been thinking about this a year or two ago... think I had a thead on it...

... still would like to do it, only made with modern materials but formed to look old... maybe a schedule 80 bore, then wrap composite around the bore... fiberglass or carbon fiber etc.

... in essence, making something stronger than the original bronze battle cannons, but shaped the same, & weighing much less ( though the weight would likely be good, when it came to actually shooting it...

I had envisioned having one on each side of our 1/4 mile long driveway, but at like $7,500.00 each for boughten ones, I opted not...

BTW... they do a really nice flame show at night, when packed with steel wool ;)

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BTW #2... my old thread here, with a few links & pics...

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261413
 
That's a great photo!

Makes me think of the time back in the 70's when I started a grass fire with my big gun...... didn't seem like much fun at that time, but now I have to chuckle about it :)
 
New to the forum and so while I'm waiting for replies to my first post I came across this thread. Was in a gun shop yesterday and the owner had 2 working scale model cannons that had only a 1" bore with 18" spoke wheels and it was very very heavy, but cool! Anyway, point being that I've been building 50 caliber, civil war type, breach loading, cannons out of water pipe and scraps the past couple of weeks and that's enough fun for me and the grandkids. We use 1.5 grain firecrackers and that will shoot a 1" wooden "shell" about 30 yards. We've got 6 working models so far and counting. Fun fun!
BTW, any ideas on making a scale exploding "shell"? Which is why I was in the gun shop in the first place.
 
There is lots of info out there, they have their own forums. I am putting together a bowling ball mortar but I am leaning towards pneumatic instead of powder. With powder you only get 4 shots per pound but it’s easier to build. With pneumatic I can shoot all I want for the cost of gas for my air compressor, can use the rig as a sawdust cannon and a bead seater too.

For a bowling ball most people use a high pressure Oxygen or various inert gas tanks. The tank you are looking for is (approximately) 9.28” in diameter with a circumference of 29 3/16” , .350” wall thickness and a bowling ball slides in will a little room to spare.

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Mine are primarily "rainy day cannons" as you can fire them in your living room and even hit pictures of the inlaws. Most times the "wad" stays in the barrel so there is no cleanup. 50 caliber Whitewood doweling is the projectile of choice . . . results may vary.

:D
 

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A number of years ago I was in the NSSA while living in Virginia. During the "Nationals" Winchester, Virginia there would be cannon competitions in two catagories. One was smooth boore and the other rifled cannon. They would shoot some plaster paris can projectile in the rifled cannons and quite frankly I don't what in the smooth bore. I tell you what those suckers were accurate hitting flower pots, bull eye targets at over 100 yards +.

John

Here's a link that i found:
http://www.nwtskirmisher.com/about.shtml
 
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Don't know if this is true but it's a good story...

I talked to some Civil War reenactors one day at my old job
I forget what size cannon they had but it was on a goose neck trailer. (it was very big)
They told me that one time they loaded it with a 25ft piece of 3/8 logging chain and fired it parallel with the ground.
Cleared out a lot of brush before it finally embeded itself in a oak tree.

They called it The Weedeater From Hell

They said they never did get the chain out of the tree.:)
 
Cannons are great fun. The internet is full of information on barrels, carriages, loads, etc. Use common sense and you'll be fine.
 
Been thinking about one for years, will likely start out with a store-bought .50 cal that will mostly hang out on the coffee table (no inlaw pics for targets!) and will someday maybe move up to 1". I doubt I'll be able to feed anything bigger but every time I see video of the bronze mortars I want one of those, too.
 
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