AAR: Custom Built Cannon -- Inaugural Firing (A Great Way to Celebrate the 4th)

[lovemywoods]

Introduction

Fireworks weren't the only things booming in central Indiana last weekend. Last Saturday, friends and family gathered at the home of another INGO member, Top Hat 45, to see what this fine looking piece of American history could do.

[Ed. Note: I wish to give photo credit to Mrs. LMW. Nearly all the photos were taken by her. She's the talented one in the family. Thanks go to her for taking the pictures and the post-processing time she spent making them even better.]

The Builder

Fifteen months ago, husband, father, fireman, gunsmith, and INGO member IndyGunWorks started chronicling the building of his own Revolutionary War era cannon. The full thread can be found here:

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...gunsmithing-building-black-powder-cannon.html

To more fully carry out the theme of the day, IGW created a Revolutionary War era outfit to go with the cannon.

The Cannon

See the original build thread for more technical details. Additionally, I hope that IndyGunWorks will post in this thread to answer any questions that are asked. I do know that the bore is 2.25" and the cannon barrel alone weighs 260 pounds.

I met "Virgil" at the cannon shoot. He is a history enthusiast and was wearing period correct clothing from the French and Indian War period. It was his flintlock rifle that is seen in some of the pictures.

IGW created a screw and yoke mechanism to elevate the cannon. I noticed that there were no sights on the cannon. He said that sights weren't developed until after the Revolutionary War.

A functioning cannon is a crew-served device and requires several implements. I learned that you must have a:

-- Wad Screw to pull any debris out of the barrel from firing (Also called a "Worm". Thanks IGW.)
-- Sponge (or Fleece) to swab out the hot embers in the barrel
-- Bucket and water
-- Rammer for pushing in the charge and projectile(s)
-- Priming Iron to prick the charge
-- Linstock to set off the charge

Look Who Showed Up!

It was a surprise and a pleasure to see 42769vette (AA Optics) walk up on Saturday. Like me, he's drawn to anything that goes BOOM!

Like Father, Like Son

IGW's young son has his cannon too!

Every good soldier needs to take a rest now and then.....

How to Fire a Cannon

While watching the firing on Saturday, I believe this was the standard order. I am certainly not the expert on this. I'll trust IGW or others more knowledgeable than me to correct this if needed.

1. Pull out any debris from the previous shot using the wad screw
2. Sponge the bore to extinguish any sparks or embers
3. Charge the bore with powder
4. Add the desired projectile(s) and wadding
5. Prick the powder charge through the vent (touch hole)
6. Add the quill or fuse to the vent
7. Aim the cannon
8. Light the quill/fuse while standing to the side of the wheel

The gentleman on the left has a cloth bag holding the charges. He was called to the cannon for each firing. Otherwise, he kept his distance as a safety precaution.

A black powder charge.

Concrete projectile. Pool balls were also fired.

A Brief Diversion

Virgil did a demonstration firing of his flintlock. It worked perfectly.

Shooting The Cannon

Ear protection or a finger in each ear was certainly in order when that beastie roared!
IGW was using "quills" rather than fuses. The quills gave a nearly instantaneous ignition when he touched it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZDpeefuQc



Notice the jet of gas coming from the vent as well as from the muzzle of the cannon.

The cannon produced lots of smoke.

We went downrange to see the damage.

Virgil instructs his grandson in the proper steps to shoot the cannon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV4tshlt0R8



Many of the folks attending on Saturday took a turn on the cannon crew!

How Did the Target Hold Up?

The short answer is: "Not well." The concrete projectiles went through the clothes dryer effortlessly.

This is what a pool ball looks like after being fired from a cannon and hitting a dirt bank. It's just powder.

Why the Sign on the Cannon?


I'd like IndyGunWorks to give the full explanation. I'll give you a hint: "Thomas Paine"

Postscript

During the early part of the day, IndyGunWorks proved that he has a light side. I almost didn't include this picture, but Mrs. LMW encouraged me to keep it in the collection.

 

[top hat 45]

FABULOUS

 

[42769vette]

A good time was had by all.

Do you have the video of hitting the water bucket?

 

[Hawkeye]

Very nice! It lloks like you were shooting "cartriges" of poweder wrapped in aluminum foil?

Probably a lot more work, but would brown paper (think paper bag material) have worked?

 

[42769vette]

Very nice! It lloks like you were shooting "cartriges" of poweder wrapped in aluminum foil?

Probably a lot more work, but would brown paper (think paper bag material) have worked?

The foil appeared to work fine, and I would think with paper you would have to tape it to keep it from un raveling. You know what they say about "If it aint broke"

 

[Hawkeye]

The foil appeared to work fine, and I would think with paper you would have to tape it to keep it from un raveling. You know what they say about "If it aint broke"

I gett you on that. I was just thinking that the foil leaves a lot of "stuff" to be reamed out between shots. But a paper cartrige, similar to a muzzle-loader's paper cartrige, might do the trick nicely and mostly burn up. I think some of the mugge-loading books give instructions formaking them, and treating the paper so it burns more completely. Same technique might, or might not, work for a cannon. Just a thought.

 

[Que]

That guy is just a pure craftsman and artist with anything he touches. Great work, IGW!

 

[lovemywoods]

Do you have the video of hitting the water bucket?

Yes and no.
All my wife's experience is with still photography. But I talked her into trying a couple of videos with her camera. She got the water bucket, but she had turned the camera, not realizing it would turn the video. I don't have the software to turn it back and our internet system is currently restricted thus I don't have the bandwidth to download a free video editor.

If I visit one of my children who live in the "big city" soon, perhaps I can use their never-ending internet connection to correct the video.

 

[Trigger Time]

Very awesome! I followed the build from the beginning and it's nice to see it come to booms!
Ive always wanted cannon. Maybe one day

 

[42769vette]

I gett you on that. I was just thinking that the foil leaves a lot of "stuff" to be reamed out between shots. But a paper cartrige, similar to a muzzle-loader's paper cartrige, might do the trick nicely and mostly burn up. I think some of the mugge-loading books give instructions formaking them, and treating the paper so it burns more completely. Same technique might, or might not, work for a cannon. Just a thought.

Understood.

He had a tool to remove the foil. The best explanation of the tool I have is a cork screw on a stick, but I'm sure it has a technical name. It took about 5 seconds to get the foil out...

 

[42769vette]

That guy is just a pure craftsman and artist with anything he touches. Great work, IGW!

As if his ego is not big enough, you have to say that . In all honest I was pretty proud of my buddy on this one. When he first started talking about this I didn't expect anything like what I saw Saturday. The detail on it was absolutely amazing.

 

[rockhopper46038]

That is stunning! As a historical note, I thought that the final command was usually "stop your vents", which I took to understand was covering the touch hole with a heavy leather glove after firing to prevent erosion of the touch hole from the escaping gasses.

Not sure if I'd try that or not

 

[Fenway]

 

[hooky]

Quite simply an awe inspiring set of pictures, except for the last one that Mrs. LMW talked you into keeping.

Looked like a great way to christen it.

 

[Hawkeye]

Understood.

He had a tool to remove the foil. The best explanation of the tool I have is a cork screw on a stick, but I'm sure it has a technical name. It took about 5 seconds to get the foil out...

Yes, he referred to it as a "wad screw". I don't know if that is the technical name for it or not, but old time cannoneers probably had lots of colorful names for it, too!

I was thinking after my earlier post. Why not try a brown paper lunch bag. Put the right amount of powder into it. Roll it up into a nice tight package and tie it off with some cotton string. would look sort of "periody", too...

 

[Hawkeye]

That is stunning! As a historical note, I thought that the final command was usually "stop your vents", which I took to understand was covering the touch hole with a heavy leather glove after firing to prevent erosion of the touch hole from the escaping gasses.

Not sure if I'd try that or not

I believe the "stop your vents" command was used during loading to prevent airflow out of the vent where there might still be some embers that could flare up and prematurely ignite a powder charge. Rather nasty to have the thing go off whilst in the process of ramming the load home, eh?

 

[IndyGunworks]

Sorry I am so late to the party guys. I have been incredibly busy this summer. Barely even had time to finish the cannon for the shoot.

Couple things to note. the "wad screw" as you guys are calling it is correctly called a "worm".
No matter what I used to make the powder charges, I would have to search the bore. "searching" is what you call it when you use the worm. and its used to pull out any remnants of the powder packet no matter what you use.

the original powder charges would have been flannel. I have heard of nitro paper being used as well to get it to burn up more completely. I choose foil because it does NOT continue to smoulder after a shot has been fired, and is by far the easiest to remove from the bore after firing because it stays intact and the worm catch's it nicely.

"stop the vent" is what you do IMMEDIATLY after firing the shot and you use a "thumb stall" (a piece of leather over your thumb) to cover the vent. this prevented gas from going up the vent allowing air to enter the bore creating a "chimney" effect which will encourage embers to burn. I didn't do this because I wasn't firing anywhere NEAR the rate of fire they would have. they could shoot two or three rounds a minute. I was shooting one about every 15-20 minutes. I was also swabbing super wet, and double swabbing to be sure.

As for the name of the cannon. It is named after the paper that Thomas Paine wrote during the revolutionary war that spelled out in simple terms that the common folk could understand the reasons that we should be fighting for independence and not reconciliation. It said that a "king" was against the bible, and we should not be following a king. It said that we have a navy, fewer ports to defend now than we will in the future, and Britain is at war on other fronts and there is no better time to gain our independence than RIGH NOW. It even spelled out a very very rough version of what was to become our system of gov't.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Silly Colonials. Everyone knows that washing machines need a "whiff of grape"! Load canister!

 

[IndyGunworks]

we did fire canister. It was pretty awesome.

 

[rockhopper46038]

Bar and chain shot next!