Finally figgered out what to call it.

[Pulp]

Like many of y'all, I have a brass framed, .44 caliber revolver which is supposedly a Colt '51 Navy. I've never known what to call mine, and after years of careful study on the matter it dawned on me. The perfect name. And here it is:

Navy Knock-Off


Y'all can finally get some sleep now. Thank you. PM me for my address if you'd like to send monetary compensation in honor of my brain sweat.

 

[arcticap]

How this for a Navy Knock-off? Sometimes you need 2 of them!

 

[Pulp]

Those would knock off about anything. Sure would like to pull the trigger on one some day.

 

[KiltedClaymore]

check out the shockwave in the water! soo...COOL!!!!

 

[arcticap]

NFL commentator Dave Madden would likely say, "Now that what's black powder & muzzle loading is all about!"

 

[mykeal]

Although black powder, those guns are actually inlines. With real magnum caps. Cool, nonetheless.

 

[Code3GT]

NFL commentator Dave Madden would likely say, "Now that what's black powder & muzzle loading is all about!"

Do you mean John Madden? HAHA, I can see him saying that though...or "Now, when you fire that much ordinance at once and hit your target, they're gonna be hit with a HUGE amount of material. Kinda like Brett Favre when he fires off a football"

 

[Phantom Captain]

mykeal said:

Although black powder, those guns are actually inlines. With real magnum caps. Cool, nonetheless.

Are you sure about that being black powder? I'm pretty sure Navy ships of the time used Cordite and not black powder but I very well could be wrong.

 

[[email protected]]

i have pulled the trigger on an 8" howitzer, and it is a real "blast". dont know about the navy guns, but the 8" has a primer that looks about like a 45-70 blank which is placed in the breech face. that, in turned is fired into a 4oz bag of black powder that is sewed on the rear of the first powder bag. different bags are stacked to provide different charges. the main charge is not black, but looks about like black rabbit poop.

 

[kBob]

Pulp,

The Clunker welcomes Navy Knock-Off to theworldof named revolvers.

Everyone, what omark said.

The old US Army eight inch and 175 guns as well as 155mm guns use a seperate primer that is pretty much a .45-70 case reenforced internally and having a metal crimp. It contains a number of BP pellets that are fired into the base of the bagged prpellents used in these seprate loading guns. The shell is loaded first and properly seated, then the stack of propellent bags is loaded, the breech closed the firing mechanism loaded with an ignighter and closed and firing is via lanyard.

The vast majority of the load is "smokeless" but you see a lot of smoke anyway.

One of the duties of LTs in a firing battery was the accountability and destruction of un used "Incrament bags" These were bags of propellent that had been removed from a full stacked load of propellent to reduce a load. Reducing the load allowed a shorter time of flight and lower max altitude for high angle firing and allowed some ability to drop behind hills and such even in low angle fire.

After a day of firing an LT rounded up all the bags and compared the number to the number supposedly not fired. He then took them to a bare patch of earth, placed them end to end and lit one end of the pile. after observing all the propellent being burned he cleaned up and made sure no embers remained.

Kind of fun actually

-Bob Hollingsworth
former 13A FA Cannon Battery Officer

 

[arcticap]

My bad, I was hypothetically referring to John Madden.

About the propellant, I found this 3rd picture with a caption that refers to the powder dating to this 1989 Persian Gulf picture as being "carbon rich" rather than "high-nitrogen".

Naval gun propellants, past and present. Sixteen-inch guns on the battleship New Jersey spew the smoke and flame characteristic of carbon-rich propellants (Persian Gulf, 1989). (Inset) Today's naval guns, like this five-inch gun on a destroyer, may undergo less wear through the addition of high-nitrogen energetic materials to propellants.

http://www.lanl.gov/quarterly/q_sum03/naval_gun.shtml

Breach of the 15-inch Naval Guns

Imperial War Museum, London, UK

From the plaque:
”These two guns are the only surviving examples of a modern battleship’s main armament on display in this country. [UK] They were originally mounted in two battleships of the Revenge class. [Left: HMS Ramillies, Right: HMS Resolution] Each gun weighs 100tons (102 tonnes). At maximum range they could fire a 17 ¼ Cwt (876 kg) shell a distance of 18 ¼ miles (28km).”

 

[AdmiralB]

Are you sure about that being black powder? I'm pretty sure Navy ships of the time used Cordite and not black powder but I very well could be wrong.

Neither. Black powder went away around the end of the 19th century...the British used cordite (a double-base nitro) through the end of WWII, but the USN used a single-base nitro propellant.

Here's some more detail: http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-100.htm

 

[arcticap]

Thank you for providing the accurate info. about the powder which I never knew about.
I was just spoofing a little with the OP's Colt Navy "Knock-off" theme.
Especially after learning about how its cylinder roll engraving commemorates a famous Texas Naval battle.
Some of the substitute powders that muzzle loaders use today are not black powder either, and even the Savage ML rifle in particular can use both smokeless and BP.
I've always thought that loading a muzzle loader was akin to loading a cannon, and even some black powder guns are loaded from the breech like naval cannons too. So I just couldn't help myself to draw out the analogy some more, especially with all of the smoke and fire so characteristic of muzzle loading guns except on a much larger scale.
Anchors away!

 

[Pulp]

My father was in the artillery from '3 through WW2. He told us about those leftover bags of gunpowder that they had to burn, even brought a couple to my brother and I. We had a lot of fun with them. Nothing destructive, just lining up a few kernals end to end and lighting one with a magnifying glass.

One night I was driving from OKC to Lawton, OK. Over on the Ft Sill artillery range I saw a huge ball of fire rise up and almost instantly disappear. Never knew for sure, but I always figgered they were burnin' off the excess after a day at the range.

And it's amazing what one more bag of powder will do to the final impact. A few years ago some reserves on summer training dropped a couple of 105's into the parking lot of a restaurant near Medicine Park, OK. No one hurt, but some careers were shortened.

 

[scrat]

love those big guns. My brother in law was on the us newjersey during the regan years.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

Pleased to meet some fellow cannon cockers 13B20 here.
Sgt, 40th Div. 3/144th FASP / 155mm SP Howys, U.S. Army . I must say it was more fun than the Leg Infantry in 1972.

"Up one click Fire for effect!!!" (Boom! Boom! Boom!)



SG