I'm actually considering building a large bore black powder cannon and was wondering if any of there are any owners on THR that can help me out.
I haven't really put much thought into it until recently when they were having a competition out at a local range, got me thinking as to how I'd make one and that left me with some questions.
Most of the cannons I've seen seem to be either original or reproductions of older style cannons, from the projectiles I've seen it can be a pretty diverse range of bores and projectile types. Cannon ball mortars down to concrete filled beer cans. However most folks have a cannon style that is reminicent of the civil war cannons.
Personally, I favor something as technologically advanced as possible but I realize that the limits of the law may interfere a bit in just how technologically advanced I can get.
What I'm thinking of would be something that resembles a piece of towed field artillery in matching Olive Drab green paint
I'd like to build the trailer myself, something wheeled but with drop cleats to level the platform on uneven ground and get it locked down nice and solid. For the gun itself, I'm thinking about a really cool adjustable sight base with a picatinny interface to mount an Eotech red dot sight(yep, you heard me) for sighting that is a definite step away from traditional cannon sighting arrangements. Then taking the whole gun and putting it onto a sliding recoil assembly that has spring/shock absorbers to allow it to recoil like a howitzer. I know that a lot of the slugs used in the smooth bore cannons are rifled slugs like you'd find in a 12gauge smooth bore, for my own gun a rifled barrel would be COOL and then use something like a large patched slug to try and increase accuracy but the thought of a long rifled barrel doesn't sit well with my wallet. So it would probably be a long smooth bore, thinkin 5-6 foot barrel if laws permit.
Something that totally looks modern but at it's core it's a muzzle stuffer black powder cannon.
Also, I'm a Ca. resident so I'm unsure of just how far I may be able to pursue this idea. I'm thinkin the cannons are legal but I don't know for sure yet.
Nothing puts a smile on my face more than the thought of towing around a piece of friggin artillery off the back of my truck, that aught to keep the tailgaters away
Would like to know where resources could be found concerning the design for the things givin considerations like what length the barrel should be in calibers given a certain bore size or depending on powder such as blackpowder or pyrodex. I'm not interested in playing with blackpowder and would prefer pyrodex if possible. Would like to see what kind of charge weights could be expected given varying projectile weights and diameters.
Sounds like it would be one heck of a project to take on but a rewarding one as well.
I haven't really put much thought into it until recently when they were having a competition out at a local range, got me thinking as to how I'd make one and that left me with some questions.
Most of the cannons I've seen seem to be either original or reproductions of older style cannons, from the projectiles I've seen it can be a pretty diverse range of bores and projectile types. Cannon ball mortars down to concrete filled beer cans. However most folks have a cannon style that is reminicent of the civil war cannons.
Personally, I favor something as technologically advanced as possible but I realize that the limits of the law may interfere a bit in just how technologically advanced I can get.
What I'm thinking of would be something that resembles a piece of towed field artillery in matching Olive Drab green paint
I'd like to build the trailer myself, something wheeled but with drop cleats to level the platform on uneven ground and get it locked down nice and solid. For the gun itself, I'm thinking about a really cool adjustable sight base with a picatinny interface to mount an Eotech red dot sight(yep, you heard me) for sighting that is a definite step away from traditional cannon sighting arrangements. Then taking the whole gun and putting it onto a sliding recoil assembly that has spring/shock absorbers to allow it to recoil like a howitzer. I know that a lot of the slugs used in the smooth bore cannons are rifled slugs like you'd find in a 12gauge smooth bore, for my own gun a rifled barrel would be COOL and then use something like a large patched slug to try and increase accuracy but the thought of a long rifled barrel doesn't sit well with my wallet. So it would probably be a long smooth bore, thinkin 5-6 foot barrel if laws permit.Something that totally looks modern but at it's core it's a muzzle stuffer black powder cannon.
Also, I'm a Ca. resident so I'm unsure of just how far I may be able to pursue this idea. I'm thinkin the cannons are legal but I don't know for sure yet.
Nothing puts a smile on my face more than the thought of towing around a piece of friggin artillery off the back of my truck, that aught to keep the tailgaters away
Would like to know where resources could be found concerning the design for the things givin considerations like what length the barrel should be in calibers given a certain bore size or depending on powder such as blackpowder or pyrodex. I'm not interested in playing with blackpowder and would prefer pyrodex if possible. Would like to see what kind of charge weights could be expected given varying projectile weights and diameters.
Sounds like it would be one heck of a project to take on but a rewarding one as well.
