Christmas Swivel Gun

I realized, about two weeks ago, that my two nephews up in Washington State don't own a cannon! (By the time I was their ages, I had several.) So I dusted off one of the 1 inch bore barrels I had made some time ago and tucked under a bench. I added a monkey tail and a yoke and whipped them up a neat little swivel gun to mount on the rail of their boat dock. Ought to be great for ringing in the new year and on the fourth of July (or just repelling borders on the dock!)

geeezze, I wish you were my uncle!

WB

Your a great uncle

Yep its always uncles that get ya into good stuff.

And a great looking Christmas present it is. Got any more of those barrels just "laying around'? :rotf:

Uncle Dave! I finally found you!! I will pm my address to you later. :rotf:

Oh, nice lookin pea shooter there...

That is sweet, and that one inch bore makes good boom! :thumbsup:

Arrrgh! Just the thing for two aspiring pirates to be!

Could you tell me how you made the yoke? I would like to make one. Thanks Trinity

If that yoke is what it appears in the pictures, it is cleverly made of two pieces. Is it?

Nicely done.

TJR & DD,

The yoke is indeed made in two pieces. I have made a few swivel guns in the past - all with forged yokes that were permanently attached to the barrel. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't remove the yoke easily once installed. Although non traditional in that this yoke is assembled by welding and bolting, it is split so that it can be easily removed from the barrel. (Many traditional ones were split but were usually assembled with rivets). I machined two heavy walled rings that fit the trunions and then a large ring to make the two halves of the yoke arms. The big ring is 1/2 inch thick and 1 inch wide. The vertical pivot pin is made up of two pieces of 1/2 inch by 1 inch steel bar, drilled and tapped in three places for large flat head screws. Once drilled and tapped, I chucked the now square pivot pin up between centers and knocked the corners off so that it would loosely fit inside a piece of 1.375 inch ID steel tubing. The large yoke ring was cut into quarters and each arm was welded to the pivot pin halves and to the left and right trunion rings. The welds were then ground smooth to make the finished part look more like a cast or forged yoke.