Swivel Cannon mounts

[Poor Private]

I am in the process of making a 1" swivel gun. I was wondering what type of mount was used for putting in the spindel. Mine will be used on land, not in a boat or ship.
Joolzs' post and board is one way I thought of going but is there other ways to do it?

 

[Treestalker]

IIRC at Plymouth Colony there were swivel guns that were mounted with a portable yoke and spike set up. The bottom of the yoke had a spike which fit into the top of a permanent post. The top of the post was banded in strong Iron. This is great for a permanent location, but I imagine Joolz's set up is probably as good as they get for portable posts. I have seen a medieval tripod and post set up that looked heavy enough to work. The gun barrel was short and mounted in a large wooden stock, which in turn was pinned and yoked in Iron. The yoke on it also had the portable pin-to-post set up. Hope this helps. I want to build one for a 2" bore mortar barrel I own. Good shooting, Treestalker. :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Poor Private]

Yes, Joolz is what I may lookin at for a movable mount. I happen to have a hunk of treated 6by6 that I think will be the permanent mount in my yard. What I wa looking for was something that was easy to tear down for transport in the back of a SUV. This way I can take it to civil war or earlier events.
May even give me a chance to switch to navy garb.

 

[Julian Reynolds]

Just to give you a few more details on the construction of my stand, here's a pic of it disassembled for transport:

Basically, you just need to take out the through bolt half way up the post (that holds one set of brackets to it), then unscrew the 1" castle nut at the bottom underside:

There is a threaded 1" pipe with a hardwood core that runs around a foot up the central post, pinned and glued in place (you can see the end of the through pin in the pic, around 8" up the post). This locks the entire structure together very solidly. The top cap, drilled for the swivel post, is a very heavy steel cap that is used to top steel bollards, bought from an architectural ironmongers. It is also screwed and glued in place. The whole thing, once assembled, is steady as a rock......yet also very easily portable and very quick to put together.

 

[Poor Private]

Thanks Joolz, for the breakdown of your mount! :hatsoff:

 

[Poor Private]

Joolz,
Is there any way you can give out the dimensions? such as ovarall height, and length of the legs? And if you don't mind may I copy your stand?

 

[Canute Rex]

Another nice detail I've seen is a two piece yoke. It is split vertically down the center of the Y so there are two half round pieces sticking into the mount. You can make a ring to slip onto it if you want to avoid strain on the mount. Lift the gun out and the yoke drops right off. It makes the gun much easier to transport if it doesn't have the yoke dangling off of it.

On a ship's gunwale it was common to see a strap with a yoke hole in it going up, over and down.

 

[Julian Reynolds]

Sorry PP, should have replied sooner but been very busy - the 'legs' of the stand are 36"/3' across (I originally made them 48"/4' but this would have been too wide to easily fit in the boot of my car!). The central column is 30" tall (plus the end cap and bottom spigot). The proportions look 'right' to me, though I guess you could scale it up depending on the size of your gun and the space in your vehicle!
Feel free to copy or adapt the design.....

 

[Poor Private]

Thanks for the reply! It's always nice to have another muzzle loader/cannoneer share info and and ideas :thumbsup: !