school me on cannons

[4v50 Gary]

Suggest you buy the Cannon Handbook from the NMLRA. You can join a reenactment group to learn how to shoot one safely.

Worm it.
Swab it w/person with leather thumb on touchhole (extinguish any embers)
Powder
Ball (or saboted shot)
Fuse (or friction primer)

 

[4v50 Gary]

The TV show "Mythbuster" had something similar happen with a bowling ball cannon. The projectile went over 700 yards:

View attachment 966110

Met a US Park Police officer who as a teenager worked the Naitonal Parks as a summer help. He depicted a Civil War soldier who was on a mortar demonstration team. One day they said forget those few ounces and poureed in a pound of powder. Off went the mortar ball. Oh sh**! they formed a skirmish line and walked a long distance before they found the ball. Thankfully no one was beneath it and no property damage was done. No more mortar firing at that Naitonal Battlefield Park anymore.

 

[david58]

If you decide to shoot it just remember how far they may go. A buddy had one 20 yrs ago. Shot a projectile about the size of a soft ball. He took it up in northern Wisconsin over a holiday and thought he'll shoot it into a lake and see a big splash. Well, guess what? It went over the lake and landed in some guy's front yard who had "chicken little syndrome" and called the cops. The judge fined the shooter a good amount of cash at the time and told him if it happened again he would lock him up and throw away the key.

I have a friend that touched off a full-sized cannon in a grass seed field in Oregon, back in the '60s. Said they were running for the car before the ball - a big one - was out of sight. Very surprised by the distance....out of the field, over the river, toward the hills.........

 

[ICE1210]

If you want an actual cannon, it’s going to be expensive to buy and to feed, I usually use a third to a quarter pound charge in my cannons and gunpowder ain’t cheap. Cannon can be funky beasts, join a re-enactment group, check with the NMLRA, find out all the ins and outs of cannon ownership. Then buy a cannon from a reputable maker/seller.

 

[woodnbow]

WOW, Cannonball Mortars are so much fun, but geez you have to have the place for it. Those guys had their guardian angels looking out for them and everyone else that day. That could have been an expensive error.

I’ll bet it was an expensive error even though no one was injured... producers probably just walked up with sacks of cash for the homeowners.

 

[indy1919a4]

Well there is expensive that you can fix with money (Windows, Doors, Roofs) and there is expensive were you have physical injury and loss of life. The latter does not fix so well