Ideas for black powder breech loaded canon?

[bfgmovies]

Wondering if there is anything out there, or a solution for this, but basically I have a tank with a deactivated cannon, so it's just got a 76mm barrel sticking out. Wanted to find a way to shoot black powder blanks through it, like 30 drams or more of black powder per shot.
It might have to be a custom project, but wanted to see if anyone had ideas about this.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Hmmm...good question.

I'm not certain how the laws apply to this particular scenario. In general, muzzle loading black powder cannons either manufactured on or before 1898, or replicas of the same, and aren't capable of firing "fixed ammunition" are considered antiques and not subject to the GCA or NFA.

HOWEVER...a tank cannon, even a deactivated one, does not fall under this which means it COULD run afoul of federal statutes, even if it remains "deactivated" an is only used to fire muzzle loaded black powder blanks.

I'll leave that to others that may be more knowldegable on this subject.


HOWEVER...you might not have any legal issues if you made this a carbide cannon, only using calcium carbide and water, with a spark source, to make a rather impressively loud noise. You might even go so far as to use a powdered "blank" charge to affect a simulated cloud, such as common flour. Limitations on carbide cannons fall under state/local laws on the amount of calcium carbide the device can use. But the limitations are generally pretty generous, as it doesn't take very much calcium carbide to make noise that's hearing-protection loud.

Calcium carbide, when added to water, generates acetylene gas. Mixed with the oxygen in the air, this makes a very reactive, and LOUD boom. It doesn't take much. Coming from a 76 mm barrel, it could indeed be impressive.

 

[Frulk]

Of all the threads on this site it has to be the one the OP didn’t post a picture for.

Ohhhh, the humanity!

 

[dave951]

Without pictures, it never happened.......

 

[AlexanderA]

For anything breechloading with a bore of more than half an inch, you have to concern yourself with the NFA Destructive Device rules. The type of propellant used is irrelevant, so saying that it's for "black powder" doesn't get you off the hook. (The "antique" definition is not relevant here.)

There is no Hughes Amendment concerning Destructive Devices, so you can just pay the $200 "making" tax and have a fully functioning cannon. (Doing the actual work to reactivate the cannon might be difficult.)

 

[Carl N. Brown]

".... I have a tank with a deactivated cannon, so it's just got a 76mm barrel sticking out. Wanted to find a way to shoot black powder blanks through it ...."

A old 12ga shotgun with the barrel surrounded by a wooden plug shaped like a 76mm shell to seal the breech and reduce smoke in the turret.