Bronze Castings Have Arrived!

[Mulebrain]

So I go to Illinois last week, and my brother who owns a foundry finally poured these for me! It is based on the 1841 pattern, and they were poured with gun bronze which is not cheap! The cost of this metal is 4.40 a pound their cost! These castings weigh in at 21 lbs each.

I was going to ship them, but was afraid of loss! So I decided to put them in my checked baggage, which could of course get lost as well!

I got to the ticket counter, and by bag hit 86 lbs :shocked2: I then decided to just carry them. When I hit the TSA security everything stopped! Security was all over the screening monitor, and it backed up the whole works!

They pulled me aside to witness the opening of the box. They pulled out the barrels, and wiped them down for signs of explosives. I was told by security that I would not be allowed to bring them on the plane, and I stated that they were solid and couldn't be fired! They didn't care, and I was freaking out!!! The TSA manager came over and stared me down, and said let him through! I asked him what all the fuss was about, and he stated the technically they should not be allowed on the plane. They could be used as a weapon by hitting people in the head with causing blunt force trauma! Any way I got the box wrapped with TSA inspection tape and I was on my way!

I am wondering what would be a good bore size for these, and what is the best way to polish them up??

Also anyone got any close carriage plans for something of this scale??

 

[robinghewitt]

Amazing stuff gun shaped paranoia, even more amazing is the freaky talk you get when they find you're legal and they can't stop ya :surrender:

I am wondering what would be a good bore size for these, and what is the best way to polish them up?

Big as you can, the cuttings are worth 4.40 a pound :rotf:

I'd bore before cleaning them up, that way you have centres at either end to spin them on while you do down through the grits.

Max bore size is probably a matter of leaving enough metal at the thinnest part so it can take a knock without worrying, that should leave you plenty at the high pressure end.

Looks like fun :thumbsup:

Squire Robin

 

[BenCoogle]

Good looking castings! They look to be about 1/4 scale so around 3/4" maybe 9/16" would be scale.

Ben

 

[bingo1952]

Those are good looking castings. I would try for about 7/8" for a bore diameter. Standard fractional sizes make the appropriate drills and reamers a little more econominal to buy. That will still leave you about a 1 caliber wall thickness at the breech after finishing. Keep your cuttings and recycle them into another gun.

 

[GunneyG]

If you plan to shoot them, figure out what you will use for shot before deciding on a bore size. And try to use a standard size drill as mentioned above; odd sizes are much more expensive.

 

[Mulebrain]

These will be bored 75 caliber, and one is already at the machine shop!

 

[oldarmy]

First off,
My mother.. in a wheel chair was searched and taken out of her wheel chair when they discovered a set of scissors and kiting needles in her "bag" :surrender:
I will buy a few of those casting "AS IS".
It's a good thing to make money, Both for you and your brother :grin: :thumbsup:
Profit is what makes Jobs.. Goodness knows we need some. :cursing:
If you could put a price on the "as is" casting and the finished one, it would be appreciated.
PM me when you have figured it out.
Or post it and start taking orders :grin:

 

[TheDoubleD]

Come on, the law is the law! If we apply commonsense and good judgement,then it would be called profiling, and we can't have that can we?

For the bore, measure the diameter over the chamber and divide by three, thats your safe bore size.

What is the composition of the bronze you used?

 

[David Teague]

First off,
My mother.. in a wheel chair was searched and taken out of her wheel chair when they discovered a set of scissors and kiting needles in her "bag" :surrender:

Well of course they did and correctly so...

after all what was to keep her from knitting an Afghan once airborne. :rotf:

 

[oldarmy]

That is so funny. :rotf:
If she had said that.. I would have had to bail her out of jail I bet :hmm:
She would be on the "no fly" list or the "no more knitting" one..
They are really stupid.

 

[TheDoubleD]

No they are not stupid. See my post above. They are not allowed to apply common sense and good judgement. Can't have profiling, its just not politically correct.

And if you are a first grader and you take you camp utensils, you are going to do hard time.

This type of policy is so mindless, and is one of the reasons, I decided to retire. I was a Customs Officer, and if one my Officers wanted to use discretion and common sense, they had to have my permission first and I had too document every deviation. Even then I would get questioned from up the chain of command. I got tired of justifing to my bosses, common sense.

But this has nothing to do with these lovely castings and I will get back on topic.

Have you decided what caliber they are going to be or what carriages you are going use?

 

[Mulebrain]

They are already bored 3/4" I will post pics as soon as I can get away from the pc repair buildup

I want to build small 1841 cannon carriages!

 

[TheDoubleD]

Field gun or Seacoast carriages?

 

[Mulebrain]

Probably will start the first one as seacoast, and the other will be field.

 

[TheDoubleD]

I have plans for the carriages used on 1845 patterns 42 PDR's, the machined version of the 1841, as used on the U.S.S. Cairo. The plans are 1/12 scale, but can be resized to your cannons scale. I resized them to 1/6 scale. Interested?

 

[TheDoubleD]

I just went through all my plans and came with two specific plans for this pattern barrel.

32 pounder Seacoast cannon on a front pintle casemate carriage.

6 pounder field gun.

If you are interested, drop me a PM.

 

[oldarmy]

Thanks for the personal history.
Thanks for your long service :thumbsup:
Mulebrain..
Please,
Put me on the list for one of them. :bow:
Mike

 

[TheDoubleD]

Thanks for the personal history.
Thanks for your long service :thumbsup:

Mike

Sorry about that, somebody stuck that darn soapbox there...apologies.

 

[TheDoubleD]

Okay, MB the deawings are on the way to you. If you can't read our use the email attachements let me know and I snail mail them.

 

[Mulebrain]

Okay, MB the deawings are on the way to you. If you can't read our use the email attachements let me know and I snail mail them.

Thanks DD for them plans! Now will be forced to make time to get on it!