Old cannon

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Hello and thanks for posting:
Let me begin by saying that I'm not an expert. I know just about enough to get me into trouble, but seldom enough to get me out of trouble. In this case, I'm pretty sure that your cannon is an iron British naval cannon. The key is the marks on the end of the trunnions. There is lots of information on the subject, becuase these marks are often the primary way that underwater archaeologists identify shipwrecks or what remains of shipwrecks. There's some difference of opinion among the experts regarding the details of the marks as they relate to dates, etc.. It looks like yours dates to 1723, but once again, there is some sort of disagrement over the details regarding dates, espcially of the early 18th century dates. If you do a computer search on British iron naval trunnion marks, you'll find lots of articles with a wide rage of details about the dates of cannons like yours. And, given the British penchant for recording keeping, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was a list in some archives that specified where the cannon with number "50745"[?] was originally posted. Just don't let them know you have it; they may want it back! I hope this helps, at least a little. Please keep us posted on what you discover about your "shooting iron." Thanks again.
 
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Thank you the information. That’s a big help, now I can do a little more digging. How cool it would be cool to find out the history on this cannon. Thank you again.
 
The barrel "may be" old,but carriage is modern.
Looking at the hex headed nuts and the trunnion
caps are electric welded. Things work men did not have
many years ago..
 
Jmorris
What I was told that his father used to fire off this cannon. They using croquet balls.

The current standard croquet ball is 3 5/8" diameter, just a little larger than a 6 pounder ball.
I found an ad for an old croquet set at 3 1/4".
That is a pretty stout caliber for mid 18th century, although not much for later guns.
 
Yes, the carriage is newer, it was made by his grandfather.
I found spec on the web for a Armstrong cannon and this matches the 3 lb to the t, with all the details marking.
 
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