My cannon

[robhof]

Mine is .75 cal and cost $15 from DGW (in 1967), also paid $5 for .69 cal scissor ball mold, largest available at time. They work great in 12Ga shot cups, surprisingly accurate at 25yds.

 

[Busyhands94]

I checked the Dixie Gun Works website, they still are selling cannons! I'm actually kinda tempted to get one of those brass cannon blanks they sell and bore it out to .50, that would be a lot of fun! $36 for a sweet little cannon kit sounds pretty good!
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/default.php?cPath=22_106_665

 

[TurtlePhish]

http://s1162.photobucket.com/albums/q532/TurtlePhish/?action=view&current=ade65034.jpg

Here it is! Pic's too big for THR.

 

[Busyhands94]

Excellent work! I like how well polished it is!

 

[TurtlePhish]

Thanks I put some 600 grit lapping compound on a piece of paper towel and gave it a good polish while it was chucked in the lathe. Now I just gotta get some powder and soda cans...

 

[Busyhands94]

I don't know if you'd be open to this idea or think it's a bad idea, but I found that if you cut the little explosive dots off some paper caps (the kind you buy at a toy store) and put about 5-10 in there (put the fuse in the touch hole first) then carefully put your BB on top of the caps without ramming you will have a pretty good load for these little cannons. I recommend putting a little piece of a tissue between the caps and the BB to both cushion the caps during the loading process and to seal the hot expanding gasses behind the BB.

 

[TurtlePhish]

I actually saw a youtube video of some guy doing that, the power behind the BB was ridiculous. I might run out to Family Dollar and pick some up. Does the fuse ignite the caps directly?

Unrelated question: What would you feel comfortable with as a max bore diameter for 1.5" 4140 round bar? .50 is beefy, but if I can go bigger I'm gonna.

 

[WALKERs210]

If you are seriously thinking about joining up, consider signing up to be an armorer (gunsmith). Sure wish I had gone that route instead of the Infantry, too many John Wayne movies as a youth.

I was in the navy back in the mid 60's and was offered work as a gunners mate, my thought at the time was "what in civilian life could I do with knowledge of a 16" gun or even a 5". To young to realize that small arms was in the same category.

 

[chute2thrill]

I dunno if anyone has posted this already but this website has some interesting little cannons. http://www.blackpowder-cannons.com/

 

[Busyhands94]

I have that link bookmarked! There is quite a few neat designs I'm planning on building! I think I want to try and find a used welder and learn how to weld, that would be great for building cannons and other shootable items!

I think I'll post a picture of my 12 guage cannon once I get the carriage built, that would be fun to show you guys!

Here's another cannon link, this is what originally got me into building cannons. Not only did I want a cannon, I wanted a small one and saw these. Having no money I decided to build one and based the design off the cannons I saw here. http://www.brooks-usa.com/id6.html

 

[TurtlePhish]

Just fired the little one with fffg, it works great!

 

[Busyhands94]

Awesome! Did it penetrate the can?

 

[TurtlePhish]

Almost. Made a really big dent. Gonna carefully grind the powder finer and try again with a little more tomorrow. Getting a bit late to shoot off little cannons in the backyard...