Posted 10 years ago
hotairfan
(388 items)
I purchased this cannon bbl. at a model engineering show at the Cabin Fever Expo in York, PA fairgrounds a few years ago. I always wanted a black powder cannon to fire off on the 4th of July and New Years eve.
The barrel was a good start to build my civil war howitzer.
The barrel was made at the Aberdeen (spelling questionable) proving grounds and is a "drop" from an ordinance bbl. (a golf ball fits comfortably in the bbl.) This is to say that it is what was left after a full sized artillery bbl. was made.
I wanted to test my iron making skills, so all of the strappings and trunion supports are hand made. I know that the wheels are not true to character, but, these are the ones that I have and they look good on the truck.
I copied the cannon from an article on the internet. I fire it using 200 grains of "Fg" black powder ignited by a replica civil war cannon friction fuze. Wow, what a report it makes. It has proof marks on the rim of the bbl.
Being made from the material that it was, leads me to believe that I could fire a projectile in it, BUT I WON'T. Noise is good enough for me. .... hotairfan
If you ck my profile, you will see that I have an original 3' ord. rifle that I built the carriage from the orig. plans. Friend found 2 orig. wheels but had to replace about 1/3 of them & learned about blacksmithing. The orig. wheels were 57" & had 14 spokes but see that you have to live with what you have. I think you did a great job! These are a lot of fun. You should be safe with a shell. Try it. You will like it!