I bought a cannon...

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Bronze.
Then iron.
Then steel band reinforced iron.
Then steel.

The earliest Chinese cannon were supposedly made out of wood or bamboo..

rc
 
I set the GoPro up about 10 feet behind it and got video of a teaspoon of powder and packed toilet paper. It wasnt that loud but the cannon is fine. I was behind a large dirt mound just in case. I figured if I could detonate 1000+ kg IEDs in Afghanistan then this wouldnt be an issueas long as the correct precautions were taken.

I had a few people better than me inspect it before and after. But its officially retired. So give up your dreams of discovering a familiar forum memver being killed.
 
And for whats its worth, all these stories about cannons exploding are probably true, but I assure you it was becuase of operator error. For example, im sure in most of them an exessive amount of powder was used and the barrel likely heavily obstructed. Simple paper mortar tubes last for multiple shots and utilize a powder charge as well as a relatively heavy projectile. I understand that cast iron qualoty can vary vastly but this metal appeared to be in good condition. And again, precautions were taken to enaure injury was avoided in the event things turned for the worse.
 
operator error? nope not really true, Even the best made Krupp German Navy guns blew up, killing a number of German sailors, caused some bad press and an official inquiry in the late 1800's. Had to do with the casting process.
 
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all these stories about cannons exploding are probably true, but I assure you it was because of of operator error.
Click to expand...
Not probably, it is true.
Cannons have blown up through no fault of the crew throughout history.

It is Totally true cannons sometimes blow up through no fault of the gun crew.

The civil war Parrott rifle was notorious for bursting during engagements.
To the extent many senior artillerymen refused to serve on them.

They were cast iron, with a steel reinforcing sleeve shrunk over the breech section.

Still, continued firing resulted in a lot of them blowing up for no apparent reason, eventually.

Cast bronze and cast iron cannons were always subject to metal fatigue and corrosion getting into casting flaws causing them to just let go eventually if fired enough.

rc
 
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"I bought a cannon..." No you didn't...

You bought a cannon shaped decoration/door stop.

Nice, but let's not mislead the OP here.
 
I might make a new youtube channel to download becuase my current one has PI. Im not really sure how else to show the video.
 
The famous "Swamp Angel", an 8" Parrott, blew out its breech on the 36th shot, using 16 lbs. of powder. The explosion blew the front part over the parapet.

Jim
 
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