Question for Artilleryman

[Double D]

Norm.

N-SSA  has a rule requiring the wall of reproduction cannons be one caliber thick around the breech.  Does this mean that  reproduction Napoloean's are subcaliber or disallowed?

[Artilleryman]

Actual or exact scale replicas of Civil War artillery pieces may be fired. The term “Civil War” applies to any artillery piece whose model antedates April 26, 1865. Replicas of artillery pieces must duplicate original pieces. All reproduction barrels must be made of iron, steel or bronze. All reproduction barrels and those original barrels failing inspection must be lined with a bore liner of extruded seamless steel tubing of a minimum ANSI standard and of a minimum 3/8-inch wall thickness.

The liner must be closed at the breech end with a steel plug, sweat-fitted into the liner and welded. The breech plug must have a radius of at least 25 percent of the bore radius and be at least 1 inch thick at its thinnest point. (See figure 10.1). All reproduction barrels manufactured after March 1, 1986 must have pictures of the liner and breech plug before and after welding. No reproduction barrel shall be approved after March 1, 1986, which does not have one caliber's thickness of metal surrounding the bore at the breech. (See figure 10.2 for example.) Liner may be affixed by casting barrel around the liner or by other approved methods such as bonding with high strength adhesives. The method of locking liner in barrel shall be approved by the Artillery Ordnance Officer. The gun and its crew must pass the inspection specified in Section 18. A gun crew shall consist of a minimum of 4 members of the organization. Effective 1 February 1996, all artillery pieces must be originals or full-size, exact replicas to be approved.


I have copied the rules concerning barrels.  You will see that we are allow to use  "Actual or exact scale replicas.....Replicas of artillery pieces must duplicate original pieces."  Therefore, full scale bronze Napoleons qualify under the rules, and Confederate Iron Napoleons (banded) I believe meet the 1 caliber rule.

The contradiction lies with rules that were not modified when we changed to full scale guns only.  The "No reproduction barrel shall be approved after March 1, 1986, which does not have one caliber's thickness of metal surrounding the bore at the breech." rule is left over from the time when the N-SSA allowed sub-scale guns.  I supposed that it still has some meaning since we grandfathered in sub-scale guns that already had been approved for use.

Under the current rules if you bring in a new gun it cannot be subcalibered since that would make it sub-scale, and sub-scaled guns are not allowed.

I believe that we currently have at least four bronze Napoleons and one iron Napoleon competing in the N-SSA.  One iron and one bronze are being used by my unit the First South Carolina Vols.

This probably opens up other questions.

[lance]

 another question for ARTILLERYMAN......  i only know what i've heard on the field and this concerns reenactors just shooting blanks in their cannons. most of the reenactors i know down here in Virginia use Steen cannons. now i've heard them many times, tell some guy that shows up with an un-lined iron cannon to take it back home. they say an un-lined iron cannon is not safe even shooting blanks. with thousands of folks watching the show they don't want to take a chance. now are they just being rich stuck up snobs? or are the un-lined iron cannons really not safe with blanks? i've seen the pictures in South Bend's catalog, of cannons that have been cut up to show all the air pockets and casting flaws. so is there an official rule for reenactor cannons too......

[Artilleryman]

I am not a reenactor, and therefore can not comment on what rules that they might have.  Someone else on this board may be able to enlighten us.

I will comment on bore defects.  The cannon may be strong enough for blanks with bore defects.  The problem lies with any cracks, voids, or pockets that could hold an ember and cause an accident during the loading process.  Most of the accidents that I have read about have to do with a premature discharge of the piece with the resulting injuries to the #1 cannoneer.   This apparently is the result of several things that have gone wrong, usually speed loading to simulate "combat".  (Combat firing was usually very deliberate, and I remember reading that an general order was given that the rate of fire was to be no faster than one round in five minutes to keep artillery crews from wasting ammunition.  Don't remember which army)  Also there is the possibility that the rammer may go down range and injure someone else, although I do not remember anyone being injured that way.

I would hope that the event coordinator would specify what type of equipment is acceptable before hand so that a person wouldn't show up only to be told he couldn't participate. 

Personally, I believe in lined iron barrels.  Better safe than sorry.

[lance]

 Thanks Norm, your answer makes sense. i've seen people get all excited and go buy the cheapest full size gun they can find. only to be told if it ain't a Steen, take it back home. i never heard a good reason for it, i was thinking they were being snobs. i did hear some talk a while back about a t.v. news crew filming a reenactment, something about the rammer flying down the field with a man attached to it. there is footage of it, but i don't know how to find it. i always respect your comments, i know you are not a reenactor, your on my favorite DVD of all time,Artillery Games.

[Artilleryman]

Thank you Lance.  Historically the event I always think about is the surrender of Fort Sumter by the Federals at the beginning of the great unpleasantness.  The only fatalities occurred after the bombardment when the Federals were allowed to fire a 100 gun salute to the flag before leaving the fort.  One of the guns discharged prematurely killing one man on the spot and another died in hospital.