.45 Caliber Rifled Barrel Dikar Spain Naval Cannon

[slumlord44]

Picked one up at local gun show today for $55. Bore a little rusty but seems to be surface rust and is cleaning up. Rifling is good. Powder load? I am thinking around 20 grains of FFG to start? Do I need to tie it down somehow or what? Shoot a lot of blackpowder but never played with a cannon. Recoil is a fact of life. Thing looks well built and I don't think 50 or 60 grains of powder would hurt it but there is the issue of recoil. Just let it set there on its wheels and god knows where it will end up.

 

[slumlord44]

Photo if it helps. Did some additional research and came up with a 10 to 30 grain FFG load range. Does that sound about right? And yes I need to tie it down somehow.

 

[slumlord44]

Any help out there??

 

[coloradoclyde]

I have had one since I was a kid. my brother and I had a target painted like a ship in the back yard (our version of the game battleship). my brother was very good at aiming it. it gave us many hours of fun. I always shot 25 grains of powders and that is a big plenty. the cannon will flip over when fired, we never tied it down just let it flip. treat it as you would any other gun becuase it can be deadly.(not a toy)
Enjoy!
P.S. use cannon fuse to light and stand back.
we also made an elevation wedge out of wood so we could aim it.

 

[slumlord44]

Thanks. Figured someone had to have experience with these. I had been thinking about something to adjust the elevation. You wouldn't happen to have the original instructions that came with it?
Think I will start with 20 grains. Do you use a patched ball are un patched ball?

 

[trent/OH]

An unpatched ball will tame the recoil a bit, and accuracy isn't going to be a factor anyway. Start at 10 grains of powder.

I see it has 4 rings on it. A small cord through them will keep it from flying too far when fired, but it may still flip over. Fire it from something soft (like not concrete) so it doesn't get dinged up if it flips.

Get another one just like it and you have the start of a very cool working model of USS Monitor!

 

[Odentheviking]

An unpatched ball will tame the recoil a bit, and accuracy isn't going to be a factor anyway. Start at 10 grains of powder.

I see it has 4 rings on it. A small cord through them will keep it from flying too far when fired, but it may still flip over. Fire it from something soft (like not concrete) so it doesn't get dinged up if it flips.

Get another one just like it and you have the start of a very cool working model of USS Monitor!

Good advice here. I tried to hold mine down using the rings and eyes...... Didn't work so good! Bent all the rings/eyes and when the carriage came down it busted the rear wheel and the axle. Not a hard fix but ended the shooting day early! I mostly fire mine as a blank for holidays.

 

[cynthialee]

So if it is too light for its' own good why not weigh it down with lead in the bottom of it hidden in the wood?

 

[slumlord44]

I was thinking about using small chain through the hook eyes to anchor it down to a piece of 2X6 I am using for a base but maybe that is not a good idea? Tied it down with a piece of nylon string to the 2x6 today and tried it out. Lots of fun. 20 grains of FFG and a paper towel wad to start and unpatched round balls after that. Good noise but would only put a dent in my 50 gallon steel drum burn barrel. Don't think I would want to get shot with it though. May try 25 or 30 grains of FFG when I figure a better way to anchor it down. Any suggestions on an anchor method? Thinking about weighting the 2x6 or finding a larger piece of wood like a longer 2x12. Need to anchor it down securely and neatly. Also need to be able to dismount it to clean it after use. Lots of fun. Know now why I always wanted a cannon. Now I need a much bigger one to play with!