Capt-William; I'll answer some of your questions, Haftail can fill in any details that I might miss.
Shoot live ammo? You bet we do, like I said we shoot a .690cal lead ball patched with .018 pillow ticking, on top of 120 grs, FF powder. The longest shot that we have attempted in compition is about 200 yds. that was a 45 gal. oil barrel, and we can hit that with ease, I believe that Halftail has shot over open water and the distance was considerably more.
The cannon was made from a piece of 3-1/2" steel that was an axel on a large drum used aboard a fishing boat. The walls at the breech area are 1-3/8" thick. The over-all lenght is 20". We feel that this is more than thick enough, considering that we are shooting the same load the some people shoot in a Brown Bess.
As for cost , well we scrounged most of the materials, however it did cost $ 100 to have the bore drilled on a machinest lathe. I built the carriage out of material that I had around my shop. You can't tell from the photo, but the wheels are built entirely of wood.
It's not entirely P/C cause if you look closly you will see that it has a percussion ignigtion system, and part of that is constructed from a muffler clamp :crackup:.
I guess that covers everything, except I can't begin to tell you how much fun we have had shooting it over the past few years.
I see that Halftail has posted pics. The brass cannon in the background is an actual size reproduction of a Dutch 6 pounder. This was built by an aquaintance of ours , and he is a sticker for detail, unlike us. LOL :crackup: (right Half-tail ?)
Soggy
