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On the 4th of July, I hauled out the cannon to fire off a few blank rounds on the front lawn for the neighbors. Â
My daughters had been after me for some time to go and shoot the gun for real as they both had fond childhood memories of being picked up at their grade school by me in a 1989 Jeep Cherokee towing a trailer with three quarters of a ton of cannon on it. Â The last time we had fired the big gun with cannon balls was in 1993. Â She was 8 and her sister was 4 (they are both now in their 20’s).
I built the gun in 1970 when I was a junior in high school. Â For two years I fired it at every football game. Â The intent was to fire it every time we made a touchdown. Â However, we didn’t have a very good team at the small private high school I attended, so I would fire the gun any time any body got a touchdown! Â Everybody enjoyed it. Â
As a side note, imagine how the world has changed in the last 40 years. Â I used to show up at my high school football games towing a home made trailer carrying a full size cannon and a caisson with 50 pounds of black powder. Â And no one even thought about calling the bomb squad.
At any rate, it took a lot more effort to get ready for a live fire event than I remembered. Â Refurbish the gun, refurbish the gun trailer, prepare powder charges, cast cannon balls, build a target, etc., etc., and then con a bunch of my friends to help move and serve the gun.
Powder charges:
Cast Zinc Cannon balls:
Get the gun to the range and set it up:
Build and set up a target:
Teaching a neighbor lad how to worm and swab the gun:
My daughter and I discussing the fine art of aiming an artillery piece:
Friends and neighbors get a chance to fire a cannon:
Out of the first 12 rounds fired at a 250 yard target (48 inch black) 8 hit the target and four were near misses (one hit was on a bounce from a shot that was short). Â The cast zinc ball has way too much windage and I am modifying the ball mold to get a much better fit. Â We should be able to keep all the rounds in a 4 foot bull at this range.
After the close range shooting, we were picking out targets at 600 yards and beyond on the range and did fairly well. Â All in all, a very fun day. Â It took four hours but we fired 32 round shot and a heck of a lot of black powder.
My daughters had been after me for some time to go and shoot the gun for real as they both had fond childhood memories of being picked up at their grade school by me in a 1989 Jeep Cherokee towing a trailer with three quarters of a ton of cannon on it. Â The last time we had fired the big gun with cannon balls was in 1993. Â She was 8 and her sister was 4 (they are both now in their 20’s).
I built the gun in 1970 when I was a junior in high school. Â For two years I fired it at every football game. Â The intent was to fire it every time we made a touchdown. Â However, we didn’t have a very good team at the small private high school I attended, so I would fire the gun any time any body got a touchdown! Â Everybody enjoyed it. Â
As a side note, imagine how the world has changed in the last 40 years. Â I used to show up at my high school football games towing a home made trailer carrying a full size cannon and a caisson with 50 pounds of black powder. Â And no one even thought about calling the bomb squad.
At any rate, it took a lot more effort to get ready for a live fire event than I remembered. Â Refurbish the gun, refurbish the gun trailer, prepare powder charges, cast cannon balls, build a target, etc., etc., and then con a bunch of my friends to help move and serve the gun.
Powder charges:
Cast Zinc Cannon balls:
Get the gun to the range and set it up:
Build and set up a target:
Teaching a neighbor lad how to worm and swab the gun:
My daughter and I discussing the fine art of aiming an artillery piece:
Friends and neighbors get a chance to fire a cannon:
Out of the first 12 rounds fired at a 250 yard target (48 inch black) 8 hit the target and four were near misses (one hit was on a bounce from a shot that was short). Â The cast zinc ball has way too much windage and I am modifying the ball mold to get a much better fit. Â We should be able to keep all the rounds in a 4 foot bull at this range.
After the close range shooting, we were picking out targets at 600 yards and beyond on the range and did fairly well. Â All in all, a very fun day. Â It took four hours but we fired 32 round shot and a heck of a lot of black powder.
