Cannon ball skip??

[chawbeef]

Just a question here. I am wondering how far a cannon ball "might" travel after it hits the ground and possibly skips a distance. Reason is, I have an opportunity to metal detect a field about half a mile from a war of 1812 battle ground, and hoping to find a ball or two................................Chawbeef

 

[Rifleman1776]

You might find some. Cannons can shoot, and skip, far. When I was bushogging and hit a rock and it skipped, I swear, they picked up speed and power and went even faster than when they first hit the ground. The skip and fly aspect of cannon balls was a big part of why they were so effective against a mass of men. The human bodies did almost nothing to rob the balls of energy.

 

[Melchi577]

Major-General B.P. Hughes's book Firepower references the Madras records 1813 in which a 9pr at 0deg elevation would reach 900y bouncing twice and at 1deg 1000y bouncing once. a 6pr ranged about 100y less

 

[tenngun]

I’ve seen lots of reports of such and such cannon having a range of so many yards Often something like 1500 or 1700 or 2200 ect. I often wonderd if that was max elevating on a field gun or skips.
I understand at Waterloo Napoleon postponed attack on the Brits because it had rained in the night and he needed the ground to dry abut so he could skip ball across the field

 

[Treestalker]

I read something years ago in my misspent reenacting adventures that the maximum range of a smoothbore 6pdr or 12pdr solid shot (Ball) was about 1700 yards, and the expected additional 'skip' over was another 1700 yards. There was a report of an artilleryman (Confederate) who saw an oncoming cannonball skipping across the ground 'like a rabbit' and attempted to stop it by stomping on it. It took his leg off just below the knee. With the residual potential energy from the shot, it didn't have to be moving fast at all.

 

[Melchi577]

i think a lot of the variation in stated ranges is from the different guns and what they were trying to do, William Eldered in Dover castle (1640's) was expecting to hit shipping as hard as possible from as far as possible while his contemporary's inland didn't need the range so a lighter drake with its smaller charge was a good option yet both would have the same round shot. and then the accounts are spread over hundreds of years.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I have an opportunity to metal detect a field about half a mile from a war of 1812 battle ground, and hoping to find a ball or two..

IF you can find a record of the diagram of the battle position, you will do well to find where the artillery was pointed..., and if there were small pieces used by the combatants. You may also have luck if there is a treeline marked opposite where a gun position was located. While people are squishy and don't slow down the iron, a ball fired direct, that is high and hits hardwood might then drop close and shallow after passing through trees.

The really small cannon that likely were purposely skipping a shot, alas would've been very mobile. These often maneuvered close to the infantry and had no set "battery" position during an engagement. So in that case if you can find where the opposing line of infantry was, and then calculate a rather oblique firing angle at that line..., you may find some skipped shot.

In the illustration below a good angle vs. open infantry in two ranks (War of 1812 formation) won't disrupt more than a couple privates in the line, BUT with an extreme angle, you can mess with the whole group, so, if you can find where the line was, and figure such an angle, then you up your odds at finding where the skipped shot came to rest. Good luck!

LD

 

[okawbow]

Look up the Mythbusters episode with their home made cannon. The ball went through several 55 gallon drums, a concrete block wall, and skipped a half mile or more and went through a house and the minivan parked outside.
Be careful with them things!

 

[Essayons!]

Just a question here. I am wondering how far a cannon ball "might" travel after it hits the ground and possibly skips a distance. Reason is, I have an opportunity to metal detect a field about half a mile from a war of 1812 battle ground, and hoping to find a ball or two................................Chawbeef

Research period battery locations and direction of fire the best you can to get azimuths/deviation fans..

 

[okawbow]

 

[MC One Shot]

Chawbeef its been a week now what have you found??

 

[JoJoLesh]

Ah so that's also when the she went downhill?

Instead of "humm maybe we should use a small part of our huge budget to do this at a safer place," they went with, let's do less interesting stuff."

 

[chawbeef]

Chawbeef its been a week now what have you found??

Landowner is waffleing. Maybe he is having second thoughts. I'm going to sweet talk him............Chawbeef