Dardanelles gun

[Mgderf]

Also known as the Turkish bombard.

Just watched a program detailing this mind-boggling weapon.
15th century invention, cast from bronze in two pieces that screwed together.

This massive cannon hurled a 1500lb stone ball a mile towards its target, a castle under seige.
The end result of a 1500lb projectile slamming into a stone wall was devastating.

1500lb equals 10,500,000 grains.
How much powder would you need to launch that puppy a mile away?

 

[Aszerigan]

So if you upscale a 9mm 115gn at 4.8gns of Titegroup, that means it would take 438260.38gns, or 62.6 lbs of powder. That's just titegroup. Be something on the scale of 85-90lbs of CFE Pistol.

Blackpowder conversions would be drastically different.

Legal disclaimer, I am not a professional physicist. Do not take my advice. This is probably not how it works.

 

[Creedmoor]

Generally with "Black Powder" a standard load would be enough powder to pour over the projectile to cover it completely with powder.
1500 lb ball = lots.

 

[Creedmoor]

So if you upscale a 9mm 115gn at 4.8gns of Titegroup, that means it would take 438260.38gns, or 62.6 lbs of powder. That's just titegroup. Be something on the scale of 85-90lbs of CFE Pistol.

Blackpowder conversions would be drastically different.

Legal disclaimer, I am not a professional physicist. Do not take my advice. This is probably not how it works.

I just called 1-900-INDIANHEAD
The custodian told me it was 44.9 lbs of Otto Powder. It was $4.99 a min.

 

[Methane Herder]

More modern version......

Karl-Gerät 040
24" bore.
Heaviest round, 4780lb.

MH

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Those guys that think 9mm carbines have excessive recoil should visit this thread...

 

[Mgderf]

More modern version......
View attachment 352369
Karl-Gerät 040
24" bore.
Heaviest round, 4780lb.

MH

Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark...

 

[Mongo59]

Isn't that the name of the bad guy from the Smurfs?

Asking for a friend...

 

[BigMoose]

So if you upscale a 9mm 115gn at 4.8gns of Titegroup, that means it would take 438260.38gns, or 62.6 lbs of powder. That's just titegroup. Be something on the scale of 85-90lbs of CFE Pistol.

Blackpowder conversions would be drastically different.

Legal disclaimer, I am not a professional physicist. Do not take my advice. This is probably not how it works.

I could be wrong, but if you took pistol powder and packed it in a cannon.. well it would be a massive pipe bomb

Cannon powder grain size is larger, as the gun size goes up... the grain size does too.
By the time you get to 16 inch Naval guns.. the grains themselves are the size of COKE CANS.



Now I don't know the loading for black powder cannons. But the loading for the 16/50 Iowa guns are well known
Six bags of powder with the grains the size of coke cans.
2,500 ft/s firing a 2,700 lb shell.


I am fairly sure the black powder for those old cannons are fairly large grain too.

 

[Nazgul]

"During the 15th century the range of powder weight was very large, much larger than at later dates. Early short barreled bombards like Pumhart von Steyr could fire low velocity projectiles close to 700 kg's using a powder charge of 15 kilograms of powder or around 2.2% of the projectile weight."

One source says it fired the stone ball a mile.

There was a recent article in Muzzle Blasts magazine the NMLRA sends out about the history of black powder. Canon powder varied greatly from each source, so more of one type and less of another. Probably whatever was at hand. "Corning", compressing the powder into solid pucks and then granulating it to consistent size did not come into play until 1429 according to some articles. So the canon mentioned might have had better propellant.

Surprisingly the formula for charcoal/salt Peter/sulfur in the earliest writings is about the same as produced now. There are even writings that tell how to purify the ingredients. The old manufactures of powder understood what they were doing.

Don

 

[Aszerigan]

I could be wrong, but if you took pistol powder and packed it in a cannon.. well it would be a massive pipe bomb

You are correct. Cannon powder has a much larger granule structure for a slower burn.

 

[Stengun]

Large grain size = less exposed surface area for burn to occur over