Replica naval cannon and nautical belt buckle

[jtybt]

Cannon is 6" long and carriage is Ebony.









and belt buckle...

[jtybt]

Yeah, the cannon works. I use flash powder and a fuse. The barrel was turned on a wood lathe from 1" brass stock and drilled 3/8" for the bore (same as 38 caliber.

I'm just a boat nut

[Tritium]

I am working on my new cannon (pics of my 4" bore cannon are posted on this forum). The new one will fire bowling balls for projectiles. It's barrel will be an old oxygen cylinder. I plan to model it after the mountain Howitzer of the civil war. A guy on Millers Forum (the Blue guys) built a bowling ball mortar from an old oxygen cylinder.
I will get some pictures up soon.

Thurmond

[jtybt]

Wow, How much powder will it take to launch a bowling ball. Gotta see that!! Maybe you should encase it in cement

[Tritium]

Wow, How much powder will it take to launch a bowling ball. Gotta see that!! Maybe you should encase it in cement

My 4" takes 1/4 lb. FFG blackpowder.

The bowling ball will take from 1/3 to 1/2 lb. It won't be cheap to shoot for sure.

Thurmond

[Haywire]

What size pipe would be right for a tennis ball? I'm thinking drill a 1" hole in it and funnel in some thin cement.

Ian

[jtybt]

00 buck swedged in a paper towel fits snug in the 3/8" bore. A .38 casing of powder is all I need.

[DaveO]

What size pipe would be right for a tennis ball?

This from wikipedia: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) defines the official diameter as 65.41-68.58 mm (2.575-2.700 inches).

That size range seems like there'd be the possibility of some piston slap. My brother made a tennis ball cannon by taping some tennis ball cans together, and used a rag with gasoline or lighter fluid as a propellant. Nothing on the scale you guys are talking about: 4 ounces of powder? Yikes. What do the neighbors think of stray bowling balls falling out of the sky!

[Tritium]

This from wikipedia: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) defines the official diameter as 65.41-68.58 mm (2.575-2.700 inches).

That size range seems like there'd be the possibility of some piston slap. My brother made a tennis ball cannon by taping some tennis ball cans together, and used a rag with gasoline or lighter fluid as a propellant. Nothing on the scale you guys are talking about: 4 ounces of powder? Yikes. What do the neighbors think of stray bowling balls falling out of the sky!

Closest neighbor is a mile and a half away so he is in no danger. I live in RURAL America. No public services, no community colleges, no fast food (well the deer are pretty fast), no neighbors, no building permits, Shoot game out of front or back door. No one to care. (1600 acres of mesquite, cactus, rattlesnakes, pigs, deer, turkey, dove and quail. Varmints too, occasional trespassers but if the snakes and pigs don't get them there is always the cannon )

Thurmond

[jtybt]

A little off subject, but anybody make one of them 'spud' guns. I guess they're really cannons of sorts. I've seen one shoot a spud over 50 yds. I hear they can go a lot farther

[Tritium]

I have plans somewhere for a pneumatic 2" spud gun. 100psi air powered (can be powered off a paintball gun cylinder and a regulator). Said to knock a deer off it's feet at 50 yards.

Thurmond

[jtybt]

Do you use PVC/ABS?

[Tritium]

Schedule 40 PVC. I have one I started years ago that I did not finish because of a work layoff. I will try to get some pics posted and see if I can find the plans to post. It is a fairly simple design based on a "dump valve".

Thurmond

[DaveO]

Closest neighbor is a mile and a half away... No public services, no community colleges, no fast food (well the deer are pretty fast), no neighbors, no building permits, Shoot game out of front or back door. No one to care. 1600 acres of mesquite, cactus, rattlesnakes, pigs, deer, turkey, dove and quail. Varmints too, occasional trespassers but if the snakes and pigs don't get them there is always the cannon

There's a lot to be said for that! I have a lot of relatives in the Rio Grande Valley, gone camping with them in similar surroundings. On one dove hunt my cousin brought a rifle along, went out by himself to take a deer and saw some on a neighboring farm- but wouldn't shoot across a fence line because he didn't have permission from the owner. Miles from anywhere and no witnesses, and he still wouldn't violate the fence, even though the owner most likely would have said yes.

[ogorir]

I built a big spud gun in highschool, 8' long 2"dia barrel, 1.5'x6" combustion chamber. never did quite perform as well as my friends, but it'd shoot a black walnut through a car door. we ran 'em on propane. I think curtis' gun logged a 14 second hangtime on a few occasions. they're good fun, but don't get the bright idea of shooting newspaper at eachother. leaves a welt like you've never seen before.

they're fun to watch at night, too. a well mixed charge shoots a 10' muzzle flash. aerosol shoe waterproofer works even better for muzzle flash, but doesn't propel anything worth a crap.