What did I just bring home?

[grasshopper]

sounds like you are intending to fire off a few rounds.....the neighbors are gonna love you, even if fire "blanks"/wadding.

or will it be

"The crazy guy next door is playing with his stereo again"?

[Dave1291]

Think you can get brass cotter pins.  Accuracy?  Add a lil Kentucky windage to that azimith and pull that lanyard!  lolol

 

[JohnJ]

With that old, dry plank then the bolt it resembled the inside of an antique piano.

That's one tough project!

[Coytee]

8 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

With that old, dry plank then the bolt it resembled the inside of an antique piano.

That's one tough project!

 

In my best Gomer Pyle imitation....

 

SURPRISE, SURPRISE SURPRISE!!!

 

 

[Coytee]

39 minutes ago, grasshopper said:

sounds like you are intending to fire off a few rounds.....the neighbors are gonna love you, even if fire "blanks"/wadding.

or will it be

"The crazy guy next door is playing with his stereo again"?

 

Only 3  houses here.

My wife's (now deceased) uncle was in the house "next door".  Her (now deceased) fathers house was on the OTHER side of her uncle's house.

 

Every new years eve, her uncle would walk outdoors at midnight and fire three shotgun blasts in the air.  One for him, then he'd point the gun in the direction of our house (shooting out to the field) to throw us a salute, then he'd turn to his left and fire another round towards her fathers house (towards the lake) to salute him.

 

Her cousin now lives in that house and I told him last night that if he comes out new years eve to fire his shotgun while I'm trying to sleep......I might roll this out at 4:00 A.M. and fire a round off for him, just for kicks & grins.

 

Now....other uses....  I have a backhoe/loader.  Wondering if I can mount it to the hood and convert the machine into a tank....  or maybe mount it to the front bucket so I can raise/lower it....  or maybe best....mount it to the backhoe.  Now I can articulate it up, down, sideways......  much better range of motion.

 

That dastardly squirrel that chews on the corner of our logs (log home) won't stand a chance!!!

[Dave1291]

Perhaps we can scrounge a German WWII helmet and goggles for ya to wear.  I want to come down when ya blast that squirrel.  No, and I mean NO one would blast their own house just to waste a poor innocent squirrel.  Well maybe! 

[Travis In Austin]

6 hours ago, Edgar said:

Is that a horn-loaded cannon? We only allow discussions of horn-loaded cannon here.

Pretty sure that's as direct as it gets.

 

Is it regulated by ATF? No if it's a replica or made before, 1898(I think), since it's a muzzle loader.

 

The touch hole isn't spiked, unless you plan to fire it you should spike it, and with it blocked you have a big liability problem.

 

If you can get it unblocked can you legally fire a cannon ball out of it? I wouldn't even venture a guess, but I would figure out a way to remotely flash it from 100 yards away with a remote camera.

 

It probably needs to be xrayed and/or pressure tested. Did the guy who made it intend for cannon balls to be fired out of it?

[Edgar]

Horn-loaded cannon:

https://tortugatrading.com/products/copy-of-a-good-antique-17th-18th-century-brass-bronze-ships-swivel-lantaka-cannon-1 

Note the horn flare at the muzzle.

[YK Thom]

Very cool!

[OO1]

7 hours ago, Coytee said:

Indeed.  I've read that if I replace the cotter pins holding the wheels on with YELLOW cotter pins, it will dramatically improve the accuracy.

 

 

Nice piece ,  and very rare these days 

 

-the cannon points to the left at the rear ,  you would need to take it apart and line up the casting with  the top steel plate holes , or adjust  whatever is off , so that the cannon does not push to the left  when it's fired , but rather  that it rolls backwards freely

[Coytee]

2 hours ago, Travis In Austin said:

Pretty sure that's as direct as it gets.

 

Is it regulated by ATF? No if it's a replica or made before, 1898(I think), since it's a muzzle loader.

 

The touch hole isn't spiked, unless you plan to fire it you should spike it, and with it blocked you have a big liability problem.

 

If you can get it unblocked can you legally fire a cannon ball out of it? I wouldn't even venture a guess, but I would figure out a way to remotely flash it from 100 yards away with a remote camera.

 

It probably needs to be xrayed and/or pressure tested. Did the guy who made it intend for cannon balls to be fired out of it?

 

I don't know all the answers...

 

But it's roughly 50-50+ years old.  I believe Dad bought it from a guy who (cast?) them.  I recall to this day, being at their house.  They had a VERY cool zip line going from a tree house across their yard.

 

Don't know what you mean about the touch hole being spiked.  My memory is "X" amount of black powder was put inside.  A small amount of primer powder was (if I recall) placed in this ignition hole.  We then added a 12" or so piece of fuse and lit it off.  As a kid, we had this sitting on our back parking area so it was sitting on concrete.  I don't recall it actually rolling much or at all.  If I fired it here (not impossible to see this happen) it would be carried to position with the backhoe and placed in a field with a clear trajectory path as I would want to recover the cannon ball unless we stuff it with a washcloth like we did as a child. 

 

I've not looked down the muzzle to see what's blocking it.  I'd be pretty comfortable that Dad never blocked it for any safety issues....  he's not wired mentally like that.  He would have just moved it to the corner of house OR his office....and just leave it be for the next 35 years which is likely what happened.  The blockage is perplexing.  I may not look into it until next weekend unless it's raining then.

 

Did the builder intend it to fire cannon balls?  Excellent question and frankly, I have no clue.  The balls were NOT around in the early years.  He got them when this became an office decoration.  There's a nice wooden box (solid oak planks) that has brass straps, hinges... that hold the gun powder (of which I have none, the box is empty).  Then, there's a stand that holds the bore cleaner.....  think of a 3' plunger with soft stacked fabric rings that wipe down the cylinder.  A tamper and what appears to be a big ice-pick.  I'm guessing the ice pick is used to make sure the firing hole is clean.  ALL of these items were obtained later in life and not part of the original purchase.

 

As part of my work, I happen to be the retirement guy for the local Sheriff Dept.... and TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency)  I'll probably bring this up when I'm visiting with one of them.  

 

I am N.O.T. a fan of having any gunpowder laying around the garage.  Having been that rabble rouser myself, I'm not going to feed that opportunity to anyone although to be blunt, there are no kids that live anywhere around here and all the family related kids are grown/gone.

 

Still....  that's not going to happen.  Buy what I need.....  make several BOOM'S to get it out of my system and probably be done.

 

 

[Seadoc]

@CoyteeWood looks very close grained, old and probably oak.  I can understand the less than pleased from the wife.  I get that too, "why do you need more than 8 speakers ?"  Perhaps you can follow in PWK's footsteps albeit somewhat different ->Pissing off the neighbors since 20xx <-fill in date.

[JohnJ]

3 hours ago, Dave1291 said:

Perhaps we can scrounge a German WWII helmet and goggles for ya to wear.  I want to come down when ya blast that squirrel.  No, and I mean NO one would blast their own house just to waste a poor innocent squirrel.  Well maybe! 

--it Happens.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/maryland-resident-burns-down-home-182020598.html

[Marvel]

You can still buy cannon parts from Dixie Gun Works...

 

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/category/category_id/541/category_chain/540,541/name/Cannons+%26+Cannon+Kits/

[Travis In Austin]

On 12/5/2021 at 4:09 PM, Coytee said:

Don't know what you mean about the touch hole being spiked.  My memory is "X" amount of black powder was put inside.  A small amount of primer powder was (if I recall) placed in this ignition hole.  We then added a 12" or so piece of fuse and lit it off.  As a kid, we had this sitting on our back parking area so it was sitting on concrete.  I don't recall it actually rolling much or at all.  If I fired it here (not impossible to see this happen) it would be carried to position with the backhoe and placed in a field with a clear trajectory path as I would want to recover the cannon ball unless we stuff it with a washcloth like we did as a child. 

Spiking means you pound a spike in it so some drunk idiot can't fire it when you are away from your house. There are two types of spikes, smooth which can be removed with a lot of effort, and barbed, to permanently disable it.

 

I would say since it is a replica cannon, muzzle loaded, it doesn't fall under any AFT rules or guidelines, in other words, it's exempt. You still have local and state laws to contend with, since you are out in the country I would think you won't have any "City limits" restrictions to contend with. Can you legally fire a rifle on you property?

 

The big issue is firing a cannon ball out of it, it will travel 10X farther than you probably expect (it the cannon doesn't blow up due to fatigue, corrosion, inpercise cannon balls or other projectile. If you fire it at that lake by you they have the potential to skip, and skip a long, long way.

[Travis In Austin]

On 12/5/2021 at 8:43 PM, Marvel said:

You can still buy cannon parts from Dixie Vun Works...

 

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/category/category_id/541/category_chain/540,541/name/Cannons+%26+Cannon+Kits/

On their FAQ page they say "WE DO NOT RECOMMEND FIRING PROJECTILES OUT OF OUR CANNONS"

[Dave A]

18 minutes ago, Travis In Austin said:

On their FAQ page they say "WE DO NOT RECOMMEND FIRING PROJECTILES OUT OF OUR CANNONS"

Of course they would! Nod Nod wink wink. Put that sucker on the other side of a big tree and let it rip. Around here before the nanny state ruined things we used to get dynamite for stumps and have fun. Used to pack hollow base anvils with black powder and see who could launch one the highest. Today we settle for Tannerite and man am I glad I don't live in the city. Two pounds of that stuff is really attention getting and the grand kids just love it. I am their favorite Grandpa needless to say.

[Travis In Austin]

I think the whole thing needs to be live streamed. 

 

I ran some basic calculations for a 6lb ball (not sure what you have there, or the fore diameter) but it looks to be close to that. For that type cannon they were for close range, not a lot of elevation. Figuring a 6 degree elevation, you should figure about 1500' to 1600 yards, add 10% safety factor, that's 1760 yards (that's 5,280 feet, one mile). (This is all from a book by Benjamin Robins, Principles of Gunnery,from the mid-1700s, and Thomas, A Treatise on Naval Gunnery, which I taught a class on a long, long time ago). 

 

 

[wvu80]

..

[Marvel]

All the kits have iron cast barrels with a 3/16 or 1/2 in steel tubing liner.

 

Friend of mine did heavy artillery with a group of re-enactors. For those they would just have a powder charge. If they wanted to actually have a projectile, depending on the barrel size, they would use something line a small juice can full of concrete.

 

There are charts available to calculate the distance, using gun elevation, powder amount and ball size.