Cannon Disaster

[Claude Mathis]

Someone showed me these photos of a cannon disaster. I don't know the story behind it, but I'm glad I wasn't standing there when it fired. :shocked2:

Does anyone have any info on this?

 

[robinghewitt]

I saw this on another forum, think it was greybeardoutdoors cannon section. The perp got told off for shooting a low grade cast iron garden ornament :grin:

I can't say he was wrong because I'll shoot anything :thumbsup:

 

[Cmabie]

I agree with Squire Robin. Someone loaded up a veteran's cemetery decoration or lawn orniment. Once at a cannon shoot in Gonzales, California, someone brought a cast iron cannon that had been a stage prop from one of the Mutiny on the Bounty movies. One could hear the dull clunk of stove iron when hit with a hammer. We told the fellow to spike it. I do not think it was even safe to line with a liner.
:nono:

 

[HarborMaster]

Does anyone have any info on this?

The Story goes; the owner of this "Weapon" is this Manager for the largest fair management company in the U.S. and that he is a gun expert and if anyone has questions., he is the man to go to in his group. He is also a "Pirate re-enactor"
He and a friend poured lead into the cascabel then used it to fire blank loads as a signal gun.
Supposedly someone told him to pour sand on top of his powder to get a louder report?
He claims this Lawn Decoration had been used for 10 years this way.

I saw this on another forum, think it was greybeardoutdoors cannon section. The perp got told off for shooting a low grade cast iron garden ornament

I was the one who told the "Perp" off.

These forums are a great place to learn from. So many of the people that post are Gun.,Gonne.,Match.,Flint.,Percussion.,Mortar.,and Cannon builders.

I am a "Cannoneering virgin"
I am not the person to give all the answers. No-one comes to me for professional advise. I go to them. I am trying to learn here.
To know it all and claim your in a group., and in public as a dangerous fool., doesnt help out the rest of us one damn bit. Myself and my friends "Play Pirate" too and we would like to be able to continue too.

This person came across as a No-it-all. After reading his arrogance I was offended. With that said.,I must thank him now as well for coming forward., and would like to apologize to him for my behavour. His honesty on what happened actually helps everyone to learn what this things can do. How to go about having one built . Where to buy a real cannon that can be fired.,and how to fire it. This person should be commended for sharing this.

 

[coehornboy]

There is a lot to learn from this lesson.. having been at the same cannon shoots as rabbit ears, we have seen lots of enthusiastic and well meaning guys show up with really neat looking cannons of questionable safety (or that practice questionable safety at the range).

Examples:

1: At one shoot, a guy with an original 19th century cast iron deck gun blew the barrel from the trunions and carriage by overloading a blank charge..he was surprised, as he had been doing it "for years." :shake:

2: At another, some guys showed up after dark and began to "unload" their stuff at the firing line...when we awoke the next morning, they had dug a hole in the ground with post-digger and placed a cut-off acetylene tank ino the hole with the intent of shooting bowling balls out. The range master consulted with the more experienced cannon builders and decided that this was not the time and the place to test their "great experiment." :nono:

3: One individual brought a lyle gun to a shoot, and attached a rope to the projectile..he attached the other end to a mannequin leaning on a slanted board (with the intent of "amusing" the assembled throng by sending it down range). When he fired, the jerk of the rope caused the fiber glass mannequine to pull completely apart in the air, raining big pieces and limbs into the crowd. He was immediately asked to leave.. :cursing:

Along a similar vein, an aquaintance of mine, the president of a local history society, has been named in a law suit wherein a citizen has claimed a hearing loss due to firing a cannon prior to the start of a parade. Although his attorney (yes..he has had to pay for legal counsel out of his own pocket) has assured him that he will eventually prevail, he has been waiting on pins and needles for reolution of this case for that past two years. It should be noted that he had a permit for firing within the city limits, etc.

I think that the initial post and these incidents illustrate that it is important for all of us to be vigilant when we are at the range or an event, and to work together to ensure that both we and our fellow cannoneers are being safe. Since the events I have attended are "invitation only," we have been able to "uninvite" people for being unsafe. Also, it is in your best interest to "question" both the novice and "expert," especially if your gut reaction is that a situation is unsafe. Remember, "familiarity breeds contempt," and it is when we feel relaxed and comfortable that small mistakes and big tragedies happen.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their information. Hopefully, it will keep someone else from trying the same with another "lawn ornament," and also remind each of us that we need to be ever vigilant at the range. :v

 

Does anyone have any info on this?

The Story goes; the owner of this "Weapon" is this Manager for the largest fair management company in the U.S. and that he is a gun expert and if anyone has questions., he is the man to go to in his group. He is also a "Pirate re-enactor"
He and a friend poured lead into the cascabel then used it to fire blank loads as a signal gun.
Supposedly someone told him to pour sand on top of his powder to get a louder report?
He claims this Lawn Decoration had been used for 10 years this way.

This lawn ornament never should have seen blackpowder, let alone the 500 grains that blew it up. The fact that it was used for 10 years this way, and at crowded ren faire events, just plain gives me the willies! Its a miracle that none were either killed or injured.

Well, I showed the original thread to Lord Graywolf of Handgonne Designs. He used to work with quarry blasting, and he told me that they would use a layer of sand to help focus and control their blasting. From what I have learned since, is that the grains of sand interlock and act as a barrier at the height of detonation. Now, add bread dough to the mix and you effectively cement the barrel shut.

I saw this on another forum, think it was greybeardoutdoors cannon section. The perp got told off for shooting a low grade cast iron garden ornament

I was the one who told the "Perp" off.

Actually, he's more upset with me than you, and said as much in a PM to me.

These forums are a great place to learn from. So many of the people that post are Gun.,Gonne.,Match.,Flint.,Percussion.,Mortar.,and Cannon builders.

I am a "Cannoneering virgin"
I am not the person to give all the answers. No-one comes to me for professional advise. I go to them. I am trying to learn here.
To know it all and claim your in a group., and in public as a dangerous fool., doesnt help out the rest of us one damn bit. Myself and my friends "Play Pirate" too and we would like to be able to continue too.

This person came across as a No-it-all. After reading his arrogance I was offended. With that said.,I must thank him now as well for coming forward., and would like to apologize to him for my behavour. His honesty on what happened actually helps everyone to learn what this things can do. How to go about having one built . Where to buy a real cannon that can be fired.,and how to fire it. This person should be commended for sharing this.

I definitely share your concern about being able to continuing to "Play Pirate". As I wish to be able to continue doing handgonne and artillery demos at ren faires in my area of the country.

Ignorance can be taught, but arrogance has to be humbled. He made a terrible error in judgement. Cannons seldom suffer either arrogance or ignorance without dire consequences. He was upset at being lectured. Last I checked lectures are a tool used to educate others.

I am making this thread a sticky, as a warning to all. There is so many similar types of these "cannon shaped" lawn ornaments being imported into the United States, as well as other countries, and they are not meant to be field pieces. They are made for decorative purposes only, and therefore the walls are thin and the iron used in their manufacture is little better than slag. They should in no way be considered for use to discharge blackpowder salutes or live firing.

CP

 

It looks as if there's rust in the fracture lines, which would mean that accident was waiting to happen for a while! Bill

 

[spitfire]

It looks as if there's rust in the fracture lines, which would mean that accident was waiting to happen for a while! Bill

I agree :shocked2:!Looks like rust in the fractures :shake: .

 

[Halftail]

I think anyone should be allowed to shoot something like that.......................................................They should be allowed in a remote area all by themselves where the crows will pick their carcus clean in just a few days. :winking:

 

[Colonial Boy]

This is a most interesting thread and although I don't have anything to do with cannons these days, I do remember a couple of incidents that illustrate the pitfalls associated with 'a little knowledge...'.

The first concerns a friend who was a brilliant steam man and a competent machinist.
One day he decided that a particular piece of scrap would make a nice cannon. And it did.
1/2" bore, about 12" long and nicely proportioned, good wall thickness. All well and good.
But then Don decided to fire it, now he wasn't a shooter but remembered that he had some old cartridges somewhere. He found them...black powder 44/40s...pulled two apart, tipped the 75 to 80 grains into the cannon, wadded it with paper and rammed in an appropriate size steel ballbearing.

Thinking that he might damage the corrugated end wall of his workshop he put a couple of fruit cases against the wall.

Touched her off...BANG.

The ball, of course, went through the cases, through the wall, the back fence, across the double tracks of the main southern goods railway, through the opposite back fence and through both fibro-cement sides of the neighbour's outhouse.

Wherein he was sitting.

He and Don looked over their respective back fences at about the same time.

"Did you see anyone with a rifle, mate?"

"No" says Don "but I heard a shot".

What in retrospect makes an amusing story could have easily been a tragedy.
-------------------------

The other concerns a full size bronze cannon of about 3" bore.
The owner, the late Peter Morton, was a noteable gun collector and a good friend. In those far off days we would take the cannon, in a trailer behind his Jeep station wagon, to the local sand hills and on the long deserted beach in front of them, and fire a few shots.

The local Returned Servicemens' League heard about the cannon and asked Peter to fire it at the Dawn Service in Port Kembla on Anzac Day (our day to remember the Fallen).
So out to the sandhills to fire a few blanks so that the organisers would know what to expect.
Not loud enough for them.
Uped the charge to what they wanted.
Peter had misgivings about the amount of noise.
No worries ...all squared away...insurance...police permission etc etc.

Came the Day and as the Sun peeped above the horizon Peter, in uniform (he was an officer in the local regiment) lowered the flaming alcohol soaked mop on the end of a shotgun cleaning rod.

A VERY BIG BANG... and dozens of street lights shattered along with two plateglass shop fronts and a number of lesser panes.

Fortunately no one was injured, except the dignity of an engineer from the local steel works.
He had new boilers on steaming test and the explosion woke him from a deep sleep. Luckily he was wearing pyjamas because he ran towards the works yelling "The boilers ! The boilers !"

How much it cost the RSL wasn't revealed and I was never game enough to ask.

Colonial.

 

[2172]

Well, I put one of those wooden lawn ornament cannons on my lawn, and thought that I'd treat myself to a Hern Iron works bbl next Christmas...you've all scared me off...Hank

 

GRAY-STAR CANNON TECHNOLOGIES offers barrels with seamless liners. Just make sure you tell them what you are up to and that it has to have a straight bore.

CP

 

[Lone Carabiner]

That's definitely low-grade cast iron. Harbor Freight was importing some awhiles back, made in India if memory serves. Just lawn decorations only.