Elevation Screw

[musketman]

On most cannons there is an elevation screw, what is it "calibrated to" per turn?

1 turn equals how many yards distance in elevation per given load?

 

[Will Bison]

There is no actual unit of range applied to the elevation screw. On some guns a certain number of turns equals a certain number of degrees of elevation of the gun tube.

Most cannon are designed to fire projectiles of different weight and with different powder charges. An attempt to equate turns on the elevation screw would be futile. The varience of powder charges and projectiles is all done a certain number of degrees elevation.

Using the screw, one would first have to screw it all the way down and then count turns as it comes up. It is simpler to just look at the sights which are calibrated for range.

 

Most cannons like the one shown had a front and rear sight. The front sight was a tapered pin and the rear sight was weighted pendulum with an elevation ladder. I was looking at a couple of N.P. Ames tubes in front of the Sutton, MA town hall to get an idea of how to install the same on my tube.

Just :m2c: