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Economy cannon firing or How to take a cheap shot!

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rootnuke

40 Cal.
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Here is my question based on 2 possible types of cannons for firing/target practice, not just making a "rackit".

In order to fire either one of the below described cannons, what type of ammunition and amount of powder would you use to achieve an acceptable level of accuracy at a dist of ~200 yards, cheaply?

Scenario 1:
1/2 Scale 1.5" Ordnance Rifle field cannon for target practice.

Scenario 2:
Full Scale 3" Ordnance Rifle field cannon for target practice.

I've read that the 3-inch rifle normally fired Hotchkiss or Schenkel shells that weighed between 8 and 9 pounds. In an emergency it could use 10-pounder Parrot ammunition. It could also be used to fire cannister but, as a rifle, was not as effective with this as howitzers or Napoleons.

I've read about people using cans of concrete. But that seems of little use on a barrel that is rifled.

With the use of a 1.5" ball mold, could one form up a 1.5" lead cannon ball and patch to get a bite on the barrel rifling?

So, whats your best solution for a "Cheap shot"?
 
With the use of a 1.5" ball mold, could one form up a 1.5" lead cannon ball and patch to get a bite on the barrel rifling?

Don't know how it would be affected by the rifling, but We (1/2 Tail and myself) have a .75 cal cannon. We shoot lead balls that we obtain from a friend who owns a Brown Bess. We use a "heavy" cloth patch and 120 grs of fff goex. It is suprising just how accurate that little bugger is.(not to mention, how much fun it is to shoot :crackup:)
Soggy
 
Billinoregon
I'll try once more to send pictures of our cannon. If it don't work this time I'll have 1/2 Tail post them.
Try this link;
Ours is the one in the third pic from the top of the thread. That's 1/2 tail (with the war wound) shooting against one of our friends last summer.

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=96764

As far a range and accuracy we have no trouble hitting the end of a 45 gal. oil drum at 100 yds. anything after that is just luck if we hit it. :results:

:thumbsup:
Soggy
 
hey texas help me out with this it was a school question my son had. what is twin sisters and come and take it ? i think i got my history mixed up and ya i know every kid in texas has to know this in school but that was 40 years ago for me. i have a picture of the one that got thrown in the river back in 1836(?) and found 20 ? years ago,did they make a kaboom shell for this or just soiid shot and rocks,nails,ect the bore is whay ?1 inch 1 and a half at the most. thanks for anything someone has to add ive wanted to put one in the front yard for years. :front: :front:putting it on a taco cart...i dont know if i could get that real ! :what:
 
TWIN SISTERS. On November 17, 1835, after Francis Smith convinced the people of Cincinnati, Ohio, to aid the cause of the Texas Revolution,qv the Ohioans began raising funds to procure two cannons and their attendant equipment for Texas. Since the United States was taking an official stance of neutrality toward the rebellion in Texas, the citizens of Cincinnati referred to their cannon as "hollow ware." Two guns, probably six pounders, were manufactured at the foundry of Greenwood and Webb in Cincinnati and then shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans. William Bryan,qv an agent of the Republic of Texasqv in New Orleans, took official possession of the guns on March 16, 1836. From New Orleans the guns were placed on the schooner Pennsylvania and taken to Galveston Island. For some reason they were not accompanied by their limbers and ammunition, perhaps because the dangerous military situation in the republic did not allow for any delays. The cannons arrived in Galveston at the beginning of April 1836. On board the Pennsylvania was the family of Dr. Charles Rice, who was moving to Texas. Upon arrival in Galveston the guns were presented to representatives of Texas under the sponsorship of Dr. Rice's twin daughters, Elizabeth and Eleanor. Someone in the crowd made notice of the fact that there were two sets of twins in the presentation, the girls and the guns, and thus the cannons became the Twin Sisters.


GONZALES "COME AND TAKE IT" CANNON. The Gonzales "come and take it" cannon was a Spanish-made, bronze artillery piece of six-pound caliber. The gun was the object of contention in late September and early October 1835 between a Mexican military detachment from Bexar and Anglo-Celtic colonists. The disagreement produced the battle of Gonzales,qv considered to be the first battle of the Texas Revolution.qv On January 1, 1831, Green DeWittqv initiated the new year by writing Ram
 
COME AND TAKE IT !thanks for the leason. i didnt know they had so many versions of story #2. the picture is of a iron maybe 1" bore x 18 to 20" long , 2 iron straps hold it to a cart with solid wood wheels(cut down a 30" tree and trimed 2 4" thick wheels.and itgoes on to say "the come and take it cannon fired the opening SHOT of the texas revolution/the shot was fired from this small cannon on Oct 2 1835 as the hastily designed flag flew overhead/ the little cannon was abandoned and buried on the bank of the Sandies Creek on OLD SAN ANTONIO ROAD it did not surface until 1936 and not identified until 1980."and this is out of a big bucks tex history book? is what you wrote about it being brass a proved history "fact" ? I got to sit in on those tex history text book hearings 2 or 3 years ago a guy was trying to force them(book makers) to put in whites didnt kill off the Buffs it was some red man with a arrow shotin gatlin gun you see!(he never saw a picture of the milesxmiles of bones in Fort Worth train yard,and I do mean mile if I hadnt seen it I wouldnt of belived it. thanks a bunch for the answer,at one time I was going to be a history teacher, my high school teacher even let me do class some times. fw :what: :front: :front:
 
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