Loading The Cannon By Yourself

[musketman]

Lets face it, some cannon owners don't have a crew available to load and fire the weapon at any given time...

How would you go about loading and firing a few cannon rounds by yourself?

It would be hard to "thumb" the vent and ram the charge down the barrel at the same time, unless you have really long arms...

The first load would be easy, everything is cold and no embers are in the bore, is there a way around single person loading other than waiting for things to cool down between shots?

 

[AaronT]

I'm no expert, but I suppose you could bungee something suitable over the touchhole while loading and ramming.

 

[rifleshooter2]

Waiting quite a bit between shots and wet swabbing twice should be safe. But if you want to shoot more than one shot every 15 min then two gunners is the mim for large bore cannons.

 

[mike alexandre]

Pricking whilst worming and stalling whilst sponging are vital if you want to make sure its safe to put the next charge down the barrel. There are no short cuts to this - its the only way you can ensure that theres nothing sparky left in either the barrel or vent. A :imo:s for doing it on your own - depends on how long between shots - what your powder is wrapped in and how lucky you feel !!!

 

[FireMaker]

Have a small bore mop that will fit in the vent, wet and swab the vent. If you are using loose powder for the prime, this would not be good. We use quills and swabbing the vent would not cause a moisture problem and would kill any spark if you cant appretez le canon.

 

[desertpyrate]

Try putting a piece of tape over the vent? Not PC, but neither is loading the piece by yourself.

 

[musketman]

Try putting a piece of tape over the vent? Not PC, but neither is loading the piece by yourself.

I have no cannon yet, but I am running the scenario past you cannoneers first...

What about a vent plug, like a cork?

 

[mike alexandre]

Like I said, stalling the vent is only half the process, you should also prick it to make sure you have nothing hot left in the vent channel. Some people put so much water on the sponge that they get a jet of water back up through the vent when they sponge. It does make sure that the vent is clear but you then run the risk of having an over wet barrel. Guess you could run a dry sponge through afterwards or just tip the barrel up and let it run dry for 3 mins.

 

[Will Bison]

I get stuck with loading alone quite often. I just take my time, always use a very wet sponge. I sponge 'till I get a good jet of water out the vent. Then I run three dry sponges down plus the worm. Last I clean and dry the vent with a pipe cleaner.