What about a cannon?

[ThrottleJockey]

What if any ATFE rules keep me from owning and using a cannon? What other if any restrictions exist regarding them? I have seen some black powder websites that list them, but require you to call for info. I just wonder how much fun it could be to play with a cannon, even if I have to make my own powder to make it cost effective.

 

[Cannonball888]

Blackpowder cannons no matter what size are classified as blackpowder guns. They are nonfirearms by Federal definition and can be shipped to your door. Have fun!

 

[ThrottleJockey]

cannonball888, is the one in that picture yours? If so, is that brass? What about cost?

 

[.cheese.]

A friend who just moved to Nashville had a bunch of cannons. He'd load them up with black powder and something as a wad (don't remember what) for the 4th of July.

 

[Cannonball888]

cannonball888, is the one in that picture yours? If so, is that brass? What about cost?

Brass barrels are very expensive. This litte barrel weighs 300 lbs. It is lathe-turned iron with a 1/2" thick steel liner. It is "painted" with real powdered brass. Cost is about 1500 just for the barrel. If it were solid brass it would probably be 3,000.

.cheese, I like dog food bags for wadding. I stuff an empty 40lb bag in it after 1lb of 1F powder and the concussion will set off car alarms in the neighborhood. One year I knocked my neighbor's pictures off his living room wall.

 

[SciFiJim]

The local high school has a propane powered cannon that is used each year to start cardboard boat races. It can only fire blanks with rags as a wad. As a youngun' I helped with an acetylene powered cannon that we used to fire frozen grapefruit with. I guess there's no problem unless you use gunpowder.

 

[Sunray]

...make my own powder..." That's extremely dangerous.
What kind of cannon are you thinking about?
"...What other if any restrictions exist..." Money or rather the lack of it. Think in terms of 4 fgures, minimum, for a working cannon. Ten grand or so for a reproduction Napoleon 12 pounder(effective range of about 1600 yards). Cannons are crew served weapons too.
http://www.cannonsmoke.com/
Originals run between $8,000 and $185,500US.
http://cannonsuperstore.com/alger.htm

 

[.cheese.]

even if I have to make my own powder

NO!

One of my other hobbies is pyrotechnics. Making your own blackpowder is extremely dangerous. Unless you know what you're doing, don't do it.

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Cannons are not toys.

You go to the North/South Skirmish NW of Winchester in the Springtime I think April is the month. You will see professional live fire crew served weapons from the Civil War ranging from 6 pound horse through 12 pound napoleons and ending with 3 inch Parrots, James and the Confederate 10 pounders.

A working James gun with a good barrel and the right ammuntion can reach three miles with a impact area somewhere within a football field.

Mortors too. They used to do contests on the Governor's Shoot at Fort Frederick in Indian Springs Maryland years ago. I dont know if they still do those shoots. It takes alot to drop a shell just so on the berm target.

You need a gunner who is responsible for the whole gun and crew. You need a rammer and load man on the right. You need a swab and tamper on the left and you need one handling the cassion to the rear and another for the horses. Then two more spare men to assist in bringing water to constantly cool the cannon as it works.

Should cannon misfire, you are going to be presented with a one hell of a scenario. It needs to be done right every time. Without fail. You can percussion cap the primer or run a flint through it or simply touch fire from a slow burn stick to the touch hole.

You can probably expect to go through 4 pounds of powder on each shot and I have no idea what the cost of canister through shells and shot are today. You will probably need a trailer to transport said cannon and trail/cassion and a seperate box somewhere to transport the munitions.

Despite all of that it is FUN!!!!! FUN!!! FUN!!!!

Oh, Permits too. Once in a while you can secure a permit to do a demonstration from time to time for the public, but not with live ammuntion. Blanks only. (They are effective anyhow... for show and blast)

The last time I considered such a purchase of a repro that is functional in every way the number cost was in the 5 figures and did not stop there.

It is truly a crew/teamwork weapon and if everyone stays on the same sheet of music... what a wonderful tool to teach the public the old ways of war.

Now.

Today's Artillery.. they are no slouches either. I recall a show where the UK set out a 155mm vs a Station wagon on a range (A really large range) verus a older Civil War cannon. Both sides did fairly well.

Oh one other thing. Fuses, primers, time charts for flight/bursting, range charts to impact/drop and all sorts of goody littlebits assoicated with actually aiming to hit something.

Enjoy!

 

[snowtigger]

http://www.docsmachine.com/nonPB/mortar.html


I've seen a couple of these. The simplest one I have seen was made from an old OXYGEN cylinder. Docs uses about four ounces of black powder. Watching a bowling ball travel 800 yards is a real hoot.
Just Google "bowling ball cannon". You will get a lot of hits.

 

[Boba Fett]

I'm not a fan of black powder cannons.

I kind of like cannons such as the Howitzers/cannons that use a shell, but I have no desire to own one. I think if I could load and shoot one for about 10 minutes, I'd have enough fun to last me a life time...and probably the hearing loss and loosened fillings to go along with it


Not putting anyone down who wants to own one BTW...if you enjoy it, can afford it, and it is legal, knock yourself out and let me know when and where you'll be shooting...maybe I'll come watch once

 

[ThrottleJockey]

"Cannons are not toys."

Neither are guns, cars or women. But I certainly enjoy playing with them.

 

[loneviking]

Yep, fun to play with. I've had a 6 lb Napoleon and a 6" Whitworth sitting in my front yard, from time to time. They are fun to work with and can be quite accurate, if a bit slow. The best reload times for my reenactor unit are around 40 seconds for a full crew to shoot and reload.

 

[alexanderplatz]

ThrottleJockey "Cannons are not toys."

Neither are guns, cars or women. But I certainly enjoy playing with them.

And all quite dangerous.

 

[.45Guy]

I've always loved this story:

http://www.buckstix.com/CoehornMortarHunt.htm

 

[chuckusaret]

Never built a cannon like these but I have built many Potato Guns that would fire a spud a quarter mile.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Late one evening in one of the college towns up here, back in the 1920s some inebriated college students loaded up and fired a Civil War cannon in a municipal park. The cannonball blasted right through the front doors of City Hall. The cannon was moved off-target and secured to its base subsequent to this event. Somewhere, Stonewall Jackson was laughing.

 

[FredT]

I just read that. It was a good story.

 

[jad0110]

Never built a cannon like these but I have built many Potato Guns that would fire a spud a quarter mile.

I had one of those when I was a young teen. One day I took aim at the red quare on a fiberglass basketball backboard from about 30 yds. I hit the square dead center and the spud smashed clean through the fiberglass. Punched a jagged hole roughly 3" square. I remember standing there, dumbfounded when my dad drove up. He got out of the car, giggled sheepishly a little bit (as if to say "that's ma boy!" but then had to get real stern, "errr, but you are still going to have to pay for that!"

 

[Cannonball888]

Late one evening in one of the college towns up here, back in the 1920s some inebriated college students loaded up and fired a Civil War cannon in a municipal park.

So those kids must have been the reason all monument cannons now have their vents spiked/welded and bores filled with concrete.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Cannonball888: "So those kids must have been the reason all monument cannons now have their vents spiked/welded and bores filled with concrete."

Not up here. No Yankee would destroy a perfectly serviceable cannon; might need it someday. We're like the Russians that way. We just moved them off-target and sometimes bolted them down with strapping. We DID remove most of the cannonballs. I think we sold them to Civil War battlefield museums in Virginia. If we need repel another Canadian horde, we'll fire cans of cement at 'em.

 

[alemonkey]

Quote:
Never built a cannon like these but I have built many Potato Guns that would fire a spud a quarter mile.
I had one of those when I was a young teen. One day I took aim at the red quare on a fiberglass basketball backboard from about 30 yds. I hit the square dead center and the spud smashed clean through the fiberglass. Punched a jagged hole roughly 3" square. I remember standing there, dumbfounded when my dad drove up. He got out of the car, giggled sheepishly a little bit (as if to say "that's ma boy!" but then had to get real stern, "errr, but you are still going to have to pay for that!"

When I was in college my roommates and I built a potato cannon but soon got bored of running it on hairspray. So, we decided to put a couple ounces of Pyrodex in it, and added a makeshift fuse. We took it outside and pointed it at the side of the garage about 20 feet away, braced against a concrete block, figuring the potato would just splatter against the wall.

We lit the fuse and ran, and heard a BOOM! The chunk of PVC pipe went flying backwards, and we found a potato shaped hole in the side of the garage The potato had punched right through the siding and hit one of the rafters, disintegrating and scattering mashed potato all over the inside of the garage.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

It matters whether you are firing ordinary potatoes ("GP"), moldy potatoes ("HE") or frozen potatoes ("AP").

To which, for the old timer Potatoe Re-enactors, could be added, I suppose, grape shot (Russet) and cannister (Lays).

 

[Acera]

http://cannonsuperstore.com/black_powder_cannons.htm?gclid=CN6hlbKEt5kCFQa-sgodIz-o5A

I've always wanted a scale reproduction that fires golf balls with BP.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

It would be fun, although I think the money could be better spent on something else.