I've been having a heck of a time up until today with my 2 1/4" bore half scale Napoleon. With 500gr GOEX cannon and a nominally 2.25" cast zinc ball it was fun to play with but quite problematic as far as actually hitting anything you consciously aimed at. Keep in mind that up until this point I had never actually had anything resembling a target board... the best guess I could make was to watch where the dirt flies.
Today was absolutely wonderful weather (meaning atleast it wasn't too cold and the wind wasn't blowing 50 miles an hour) so loaded up the truck and went off to the local range. You know, it is absolutely amazing how there don't seem to be any tailgaters when there is a cannon in the back of the pickup... I wonder why that is? Had 12 rounds made up and ready to go. The sabots were made using scrap plywood, cutting them out with a 2 1/2" hole saw, gluing 3 of them together and then working them down to size on a lathe. A depression for the ball to set in was made using a 1 1/2" flat spade bit. 2 single thickness wraps of 3/4" masking tape was used to secure the ball to the sabot.
Set a large cardboard box up at around 80 yards and let fly..... way too high. It was at this point I discovered the sliding bar on my rear sight wouldn't move up or down.
Will have to give some serious consideration to getting out a brass wire brush and getting rid of some of the rust on it.
The rest of the shots were all "aimed" by trying to look through the sight to get it centered left and right on the box.... elevation being by guessing how many turns or fractions of a turn on the elevation wheel. 3 more shots and I was finally on the cardboard !!! That alone was a major accomplishment.... placing a ball on a target I actually meant to hit. Fired a total of 9 shots today, 5 of them on the cardboard. The hole in the white area is actually 2 consecutive shots.
I actually did manage to find 2 of the sabots down range..... way down range. Somehow I had thought the ball would separate from the sabot pretty much as soon as it cleared the muzzle, but that doesn't appear to the the case. These appear to have come loose when the ball hit the ground.
All in all I am quite happy with the day. Now to make up more sabots, cast more ball and foil up more powder cartridges. My next opportunity for any range time will be in 2 weeks. Will go out to 125 or 150 yards next time.