Build your own black powder cannon?

Discussion of all things technological and/or gadgety
User avatar
blackeagle603
Posts: 9770
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:13 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by blackeagle603 »

Guys shoot cast zinc out of those too?
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
toad
Posts: 2645
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by toad »

Well back in the 1860 till the later part of the 19th Century you had breech loading black powder rifled cannons. The Armstrong and the Whitworth from what I can recall. The Armstrong used the interrupted thread and an abdurating plug on the end of the breach plug for sealing. IIRC the Germans made used brass casings for their breech loaders but I am not sure on the dates.
I don't know how the BATF rules on this :?:
IIRC during the US Civil War to save time they would puncture horses ear drums rather than train them to get used to the noise of firearms, especially the cannons. I just had this image off a horse with ear muffs.
User avatar
McClarkus
Posts: 802
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 10:50 pm

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by McClarkus »

blackeagle603 wrote:Guys shoot cast zinc out of those too?
I can't speak on their mix as I have not asked what it may be. I have dug out expended rounds from the berm and they always seem to relatively heavy.
One secret to life. Step #1 - Find something you enjoy doing. Step #2 - Find someone foolish enough to pay you to do it.
User avatar
HTRN
Posts: 12397
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:05 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by HTRN »

Aesop wrote: I'm doing a full-size Napoleon 12 pdr., from scratch if need be.
Expect to pay $$$$, even for reproductions. Originals are in the realm "buy a nice house" territory.
Aesop wrote:And then I'll be ordering iron shotputs in bulk.
Nobody shoots Iron shot. It's either cement filled cans(cheap, but not competition legal) or cast zinc($$, but recastable, and required for competition). The solid cast zinc projectiles closely match the weight of original hollow cast iron shot, and are easy on the bore.
Termite wrote:Does it have to be muzzleloading, as long as it uses blackpowder?
I believe, but don't quote me, that the only requirement is "no fixed ammunition". So something like "Long Cecil" would be perfectly legal. HOWEVER, It's treading in something of a grey area, and it only takes on BATFE determination letter to change that..
McClarkus wrote:Holy crap, a 12 pounder!.
12 lb Napoleons are fun, but if you want something to really set off car alarms, shoot a 24 pd howitzer. :ugeek: :mrgreen:
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
Aesop
Posts: 6149
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:17 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by Aesop »

HTRN wrote:
Aesop wrote: I'm doing a full-size Napoleon 12 pdr., from scratch if need be.
Expect to pay $$$$, even for reproductions. Originals are in the realm "buy a nice house" territory.
I do, and I expect to have something made which takes advantage in the improvements in metallurgy in the interim. I don't want it to be original, I want it to look original. It should be sufficient overkill to provide (literal) bombproof safety.
Aesop wrote:And then I'll be ordering iron shotputs in bulk.
Nobody shoots Iron shot. It's either cement filled cans(cheap, but not competition legal) or cast zinc($$, but recastable, and required for competition). The solid cast zinc projectiles closely match the weight of original hollow cast iron shot, and are easy on the bore.
I know that. I just want to be able to do it should I choose, and 55 of them makes a nice shot pyramid next to the piece and flagpole. :D
The fact that it will also be able to shoot cans or sacks full of bolts, nails, fish sinkers, and Brown Bess .75 lead balls is also just a happy coincidence, I swear.
But God have mercy on nighttime prowlers in tougher times: "Smile for picture. Wait for flash."

And yeah, money shot. I'm figuring a pound of powder per, on the day. I'm not planning on amassing enough powder and shot for assaulting Chapultepec. Yet.
IMHO, if you're re-enacting with miniature loads, you may as well hang a flag out of the muzzle that says "Bang!", right?
I have hopes of persuading one of the local .mil bases to let me take it out just once somewhere where the impact area is an honest mile, for historical ballistic research. Letting colonels and sergeants major from artillery and ordnance branches touch such a thing off has a way of greasing the skids on such a project.
"There are four types of homicide: felonious, accidental, justifiable, and praiseworthy." -Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
User avatar
HTRN
Posts: 12397
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:05 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by HTRN »

I believe that the light target loads are a pound of powder. Full load with a twelve pound promo is two and a half pounds. Full load with a 24 pdr is 4 lbs of black. :shock:

Solid iron shot is too heavy , originals were hollow and filled with a bursting charge that s why they now use solid zinc, it approximately the same weight as what was originally shot out of them.

There is no need to bother making it entirely out of Dom, black powder doesn't need it. A steel liner in a cast iron tube is more than adequate. Others a foundry that sells a variety of cannon castings, can't remember their name starts with an h..

Steen Cannons has a huge variety of finished tubes(they sell 32pdrs! :shock: ) and carriages. You'll note that the "cheap" tubes are still 6 grand and up.

Hern sells all their tubes lined, I don't know if they'r finished or not, but judging by the price, I'd say no. A 1857 12pd Napeleon in Cast Iron is a bit over 3 grand.

Jeff Tanner makes molds to order.

Dixie Gun works sells a 2/3rd scale lined "Field Cannon" for under 1200 bucks. Note that it will require finishing, and does not include a carriage. It has a 2&1/4" bore, and weighs 250 lbs.
Last edited by HTRN on Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
User avatar
Odahi
Posts: 700
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:21 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by Odahi »

Sounds like fun, says the guy feeling "the bravery of being out of range." I've seen some pretty cool stuff, but a homemade cannon is something I don't want to see until it's been fired safely, by distant others, a few hundred times. It would have its uses, though. Scaring trespassers would be a hoot. :lol:
Birds gotta swim, fish gotta fly, assholes gotta ass, until the day they die.

"Common sense" is an oxymoron.
User avatar
HTRN
Posts: 12397
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:05 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by HTRN »

Hence why I wouldn't bother with anything that isn't lined.

One of the more interesting things I noticed about BP cannons is the way the ammo is "packaged". Apparently it's fairly common to bundle powder and projectile in aluminum foil packet, ram the whole thing down the tube, then poke a hole through the foil down the flashole using a skewer. Add a friction igniter or "cannon lock" and you can load them very fast.
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
toad
Posts: 2645
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by toad »

IIRC a leather thumb guard or glove was used to seal the vent hole when the gun was being swabbed.
http://webspace.webring.com/people/lt/t ... cannon.htm
User avatar
HTRN
Posts: 12397
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:05 am

Re: Build your own black powder cannon?

Post by HTRN »

Yup, to seal it to keep the oxygen out, starving anything burning
HTRN, I would tell you that you are an evil fucker, but you probably get that a lot ~ Netpackrat

Describing what HTRN does as "antics" is like describing the wreck of the Titanic as "a minor boating incident" ~ First Shirt
Post Reply