You've Made You a "Snubbie"...Now What?

S

sltm1

New member
Being a blacksmith it plagues me to waste metal. Here's how I used the left over barrel I cut off a 51' Colt. It's a 36cal cannon and yes it shoot's !!!

Cannon1.jpg

Cannon2.jpg
 
if my 1851's weren't engraved i might have had to chop one of the barrels off just for that. guess i'll just have to buy another... :D
 
robhof

Much nicer than my 1st attempt at cannons; a howitzer made from 3" aluminum stock, but made in the 60's by 2 teen boys(my brother and me). We made the carriage for a 3/4"bore barrel we bought for $15. from DGW.
 

Attachments

  • cannon 003.jpg
    cannon 003.jpg
    110.3 KB · Views: 81
  • cannon 002.jpg
    cannon 002.jpg
    107.7 KB · Views: 60
Snubbie Cannon Range Report

1st the breech, I tapped the barrel (cut off a Colt 51'), and screwed a bolt in about 1 inch, then removed the head and brazed about 1/4 of brass over it. Then cleaned it off and soldered on the finial. Now, the shoot. 5 grains (fff Goex), at 5 yards. I tied the cannon down, which was good cause it tended to flip over when shot. Aimed 'er as good as I could while laying on my back in the gravel and lit her off. 1st shot skimmed the top of the log knocking off some bark. The next was on the paper and the last 2 were in the bull !!! TOO COOL:D
 

Attachments

  • CannonTest1.jpg
    CannonTest1.jpg
    125.9 KB · Views: 74
  • CannonTest3.jpg
    CannonTest3.jpg
    93.9 KB · Views: 63
  • CannonTest4.jpg
    CannonTest4.jpg
    26.4 KB · Views: 65
I made one back in metal shop in the '70s. The instructor was watching me- "You know, what ever you do- DON'T drill that bore down to meet the fuse hole. Kids have blown their hands off doing that".

About 15 minutes after I got it home I had a functioning .50 cal smoothbore mortar!
 
Aren't these technically NFA weapons that need to be registered? I could be mistaken. Please inform me if I am.

~LT
 
Aren't these technically NFA weapons that need to be registered? I could be mistaken. Please inform me if I am.
Click to expand...

No, because they are black powder and do not fire fixed ammunition. Mini-cannons like this are used at boating events and high school football games every year as alarms and for plain old fun at the barbecues :)
 
Well then. I'll have to make myself one. Anyone know of a good set of plans I can use to avoid blowing myself up?

I don't regularly trim down barrels, so I don't exactly have quite the same plethora of beautiful material.

~LT
 
LordTio3 - the key is to have a strong breech. Given a barrel of modern steel, threading it to a depth of 1/2" is good enough.
 
LordTio3, you don't actually think I had any "plan's" for this project do you? Between cruising hobby shops for raw materials (brass and wood), and hardware store "grazing", for screw's finials etc, it's just a matter of pleasing the eye and keeping the proportion's "cannon-like". Before you do anything else, I suggest you make your barrel, lock it in a vise, (clamp it with wood so you don't mar the metal) and proof test it. I used 10g fff and a wad, knowing that the ball would be a loose fit and that I was going to shoot it with 5g fff. Once you know it's safe, the rest is fun.
 
How did you cut the front sight dovetail? Did you use a dovetail file? If so, how do you set-up the file or maybe a Jig for it, to cut?
I really want to add a dovetailed sight to my '51 London model!
Thanks,
ZVP
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top