Anyone interested in BP cannons?

amax50robar
Member
Posts: 5
(9/17/02 9:04:42 pm)
Reply | Edit | Del All Anyone interested in BP cannons?
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I've been trying to gather info on this hobby lately. Any more info would be greatly appreciated. I'm especially interested in the particulars of building a cannon, such as how a steel liner is installed, who installs them commercially, and load development. Here are a few links I found interesting:

safety rules

accidents

BARBARY COAST VIGILANCE COMMITTEE

grey-star

Steen Cannons

Zigzag2
*TFF Senior Staff*
Posts: 4222
(9/20/02 3:21:44 pm)
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Hi amax50robar and welcome, interesting subject. I have a B-in-law that built several small B-P cannons. His Uncle was a pattern maker and built the carriage and wheels. I don't have the specifics, but I know they had big fun with them on special occasions.
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jeeper1
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 354
(9/25/02 12:16:01 am)
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Yes. I saw one on american shooter last week that I would like to have, I think it was called a "Williams Rifle" it is a breech loading bp cannon of about a 3" bore.
I also would like a traditional Muzzle loading cannon and a mortar.
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OgerMan
Member
Posts: 1
(2/15/03 3:35:37 am)
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I have made a couple of BP cannons, and there a blast!(no pun intended!) 1 is machined from a 7" solid brass billet, and fires 1 lb round lead fishing weights, an 2 I made from a 10 " dia. stainless steel billet, 1 being a 2 ' long "mortar stile" and the other a 4' long cannon, both of those fire 8 lb lead "downrigger" balls( just a tad bigger than a 12" softball, witch are also fun to shoot!). after about 9 months of playing around with them in the begining a few years back, we were able to get them to hit pretty darn accuratly(within a sheet of plywood) at 150 yds! there are alot of saftey factors,and unless you have a nice spread of land, or one hell of a back stop, this isn't a sport for everyone! but they are damn fun to make, if a lathe, and mill are available! I even went as far to contour the barrels to match old artillery stiles(not to mention, take some weight off of them monsters!)matching your bore size to common items such as fishing weights, cans, and simple items cut's down on having to make a mould for your projectiles, but one thing to remember, I can use up to and over a pound of pyrodex in one shot, in my big ones, keep em' small and cheap!