Cannon

Bigd5160 said:

I'm new here, I been trying to find something out about a 1/2 scale navy truck gun is what that plate said. I found it down in FL being used as yard art. If someone can help me on loading pics I will be happy to download a couple.
After bringing it home I have discovered it was brass not cast iron like I thought.
The name plate said 5 pound navy truck gun 1/2 scale.maid in Maine..

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What help do you need with pics?

Once you have uploaded it, as you seem to have, too are given the option to present them *full-size*.

Todd.

A Duck search is your friend. Duckduckgo.com

Bald Mountain Boat Works was founded in 1964 and folded in 2002.
I find no mention of them making cannon.

Is it potentially functioning with a good bore and touch-hole?

Do you know whether it is bronze or not?


Todd.

The exact firing mechanism, componentry required and procedure will have a great effect on the value.

Then, to find whether or not it was built to launch projectiles or merely as a scale-model signal canon will matter as well.

Todd.

Bigd5160 said:

It has a spring type trigger on back. It's still frozen up.still working on it. It's brass and inside from what I can see looks good.

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Is that the doohickey on the side of the step in the back profile of the barrel?

I see the casting has a square boss where the touchhole of a period cannon would have been drilled.

Bigd5160 said:

the round knob on back is spring loaded

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The round bit is known as a cascabel, and is normally cast (or turned) with the barrel. It's used to hold the breaching rope, which is fastened to the side of the ship to limit how far back the cannon moves under recoil.

It should not move--unless this is a carbide or similar 'signalling gun.'
The flat spot on the top ought be drilled right through to the powder chamber (which ought to be smaller than the muzzle bore). Traditionally, that touch hole is filled with priming powder from a horn or quill, whic his then ignited through various means--linstock & match; flintlock or caplock, etc.

Note, naval guns are traditionally given a black lacquer finish to prevent corrosion at sea. The carriage is often painted one of several interior colors. Red, Green, even blue have been used.

Now, why a Boatyard might make a scaled cannon replica? Well, if one sails into the Bahamas and similar UK & Netherlands-held islands, the gun laws of those nations stand. Unless one has registered their vessel as a "Cutter of One Gun" and has such a cannon on board. Armed vessels are allowed to e armed.

Although the navy has plenty of trucks they are rarely used at sea due to flotation problems. "Truck" in this case refers to the carriage. You probably knew that but I butted in anyway.

Col. Harrumph said:

Although the navy has plenty of trucks they are rarely used at sea due to flotation problems. "Truck" in this case refers to the carriage. You probably knew that but I butted in anyway.

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Hell - the Navy has at least one truck on nearly every vessel and many vessels have several trucks though, most bases have but the one anymore - outside of actual port facilities.

Just an old promotion-board question bit of trivia there.

Todd.

There's no vent, and the firing mechanism is obviously some kind of striker mechanism operated by the cascabel.

This is an outstanding replica of a naval gun, likely built along the lines of a ceremonial noise maker and not as a projectile cannon. It likely used a powder charge and was not a gas cannon, like a propane or carbide cannon.

The cannon and carriage look to be built to scale, with some concessions given to modern hardware (like hex head nuts/bolts instead of square head). Of course, it does say it's a 1/2 scale replica of a 4 pounder naval cannon, which itself was somewhere around 5 feet long.

Personally I'd LOVE to have found this beauty myself, given my own interest in this particular cannon design. It is a very fine look of some of the old Naval guns, like the 24 pounders on the USS Constitution, which are 9 1/2 feet long and weigh in at 9,000 pounds in their carriages. This particular look was popular across a variety of different shot sizes.

The design was even used in some field guns.