Our club cannon

[rj55]

Hey people, I just joined the forum today and thought I would show you all a photo of our club cannon.

Nowadaga Muzzle-Loaders club cannon.
Indian Castle, NY

I cant tell you much about it only that its a lot of fun to shoot. We load it with something like 150 gns. of 1Fg BP and shoot gulf balls most of the time. They are a good fit and shoot pretty well. We have also shot toilet paper roles filled with concrete and they shoot good to.

The cannon was made by one of the club members and he has made 3 others I think that he sold.

WE don't shoot it a lot but when we do its a blast. Most of the time it in the spring at the first meeting of the year.

 

[davy]

Cool lookin gun amigo! I bet itsa blast to shoot too! Welcome aboard! :hatsoff:

Davy

 

Without something to judge the size, its hard to tell just how big this piece is. I suspect its a quarter scale, judging by the size of the grass blades.

Nice piece, none the less.

CP

 

[HarborMaster]

Is it a smoothbore or rifled ? it looks like it would have a lot of range for its size.

 

[John Taylor]

Looks good. I never could get golf balls to shoot strait, to much powder I guess. Juise can out of my 2" didn't go strait also but the 2" lead balls shot well.

 

[rj55]

to give you a little better idea of the size, the wheels are 30" Amish made and its a smoothbore. As for it shooting straight, I couldn't tell ya because I cant see the damn thing hit between the speed and the smoke LOL. We shoot it across the little ravine you can see in the background and its only about a 300 yard shot, (I'm sure it could do much better) and I can hear the balls hit in the trees in only a sec. or less. I'm sure it would shoot led balls ok but it would be much slower and need a lot more power. It would also be a little harder on the gun.

RJ

 

[John Taylor]

When I sold my canon I found out that heavy blank charges would do more damage to the carrage than the 1000 grains I was putting behind a lead ball. The new owner liked to use 1 pound in the 2" bore and it took the wheels and carrage apart after a while.

 

Surprised that the tube hasn't let go by now. A pound of powder in a 2" tube! Definitely NOT A RECOMMENDED LOAD!

CP

 

[John Taylor]

It's amazing how much pressure a piece of Shelby tube can hold. The wall thickness is 1", the breach plug has a 3/4" pin going through it and it is welded also. The trunions are welded and have not shone any sing of stress. One of the first shots with a 1 pound load shattered a windshield in a truck about 20 feet to the side and nocked a clock off the wall inside his shop. The axle started bending and the wheels went so he put some farm implament wheels on and they cracked. After the carrage started to fail I made him one from steel and put a 1&1/4" steel axle inside a piece of 3" box tube, it bent the box tube and axle. He lived a mile from me and could rattle the windows in my house. Recoil from blanks is more than you would think. I told him several times the recamended load is 1,000 grains but he wanted more noise. he sold it a few years back so I don't know how it is doing now. This is the same canon on my web page.

 

And there have been pieces that have been fired time and time again and never showed a sign of stress that have just let go with out warning. Overloading any firearm, no matter how small or how large is a dangerous practice.

CP

 

[rj55]

Dose the guy you sold your cannon to shoot muzzle loaders? If he dose, dose he have any that he hasn't cracked the stock on from loading it with to much powder?
Some people just don't think when they are out to have some fun and are very dangerous to themselves and others around them. :nono:

RJ

 

[TheDoubleD]

It's amazing how much pressure a piece of Shelby tube can hold. The wall thickness is 1", the breach plug has a 3/4" pin going through it and it is welded also. The trunions are welded and have not shone any sing of stress. One of the first shots with a 1 pound load shattered a windshield in a truck about 20 feet to the side and nocked a clock off the wall inside his shop. The axle started bending and the wheels went so he put some farm implament wheels on and they cracked. After the carrage started to fail I made him one from steel and put a 1&1/4" steel axle inside a piece of 3" box tube, it bent the box tube and axle. He lived a mile from me and could rattle the windows in my house. Recoil from blanks is more than you would think. I told him several times the recamended load is 1,000 grains but he wanted more noise. he sold it a few years back so I don't know how it is doing now. This is the same canon on my web page.

Maximum safe recommended load for a two inch bore for FG is 3 ozs. Using a lead projectile it should be substantialy less.

Minimum safe wall thickness is one caliber around the breech. 2 inch bore, 2 inch wall thickness.

If you have a load for a golf ball and you change your projectile to a lead ball you need to drastically reduce your load.

Shelby tube is a welded seam tube and comes with it's own set of issues. It can be used for cannons but it's not preferred and is better not used in this application.

 

[John Taylor]

The tube was seamless hot rolled. I agree the charge is way to much, 7 times what I told him to use. If it were cast iron it would have gone by-by by now. I have made quite a few canons over the years. I watched a friend in Canada proof a 4 " bore with 1 pound of powder. Wall thickness was 3/4", barrel was filled to muzzle with gravle. It was laid on the road and a long fuse used. We were about a mile away when it went off. It cut a groove down the gravle road for about 100 feet before going into the ditch. Last I heard he was still shooting it with a lot less powder.

 

[John Taylor]

I should put a disclaimer here. I don't recommend any barrel with less than half the bore diameter in wall thickness for steel barrels, twice that for cast iron barrels. Recoil is also a big problem for light barrels, heavy is better.

 

[CU_Cannon]

Nice looking cannon!

It is nice to see some one else in NY.

I have to say that I am against the practice of proofing a barrel. If it is a good design there is no need to proof it. If it is a bad or even a good design it will cause more harm than good.

 

[rj55]

Hey CU_Cannon, thanks, wish i could take credit for it lol.
What part of NY you from, If you don't mind my asking? You can contact me by e-mail if you like.

RJ

 

[CU_Cannon]

I’m upstate, really upstate; in fact if I stand on tip toes I can see Canada. I also have family near Saratoga Springs.