Author Topic: New Handgonnes from Dom  (Read 2076 times)

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Offline Victor3

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Re: New Handgonnes from Dom
« Reply #30 on: August 09, 2010, 01:05:50 AM »
Boom,

 You're aware that HIND (Soviet helicopter) is not short for HINDenburg, right?  ;)

Hey, take it easy, I think these jokers are now (at least in some circles) regarded as a kind of ally. :(

 Mebbe so, but I doubt many of them will ever forget that our Stingers turned hundreds of their choppers into black smudges on the ground in Afghanistan.

 Back on topic - Remember that rifled antique black powder Brit cannon recovered from Afghanistan cannonmn had? Bet the Afghanis made a ton of handgonnes over the years :)
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: New Handgonnes from Dom
« Reply #31 on: August 09, 2010, 01:24:39 PM »
If I'm reading right, you're calculating for a steel ball. Isn't 500 fps a little low? What charge would give that velocity?

Yes, that is correct.  It is an entirely WAG and I have no idea how much powder would be required.  However, a typical gonne has a relatively short bore compared to a more modern cannon so I would not expect the ball to achieve similar velocities and, since the gonnes are typically chambered, I wouldn't expect the charge to be as great as a cannon.

Time for some measured experiments.
GG
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Offline gulfcoastblackpowder

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Re: New Handgonnes from Dom
« Reply #32 on: August 09, 2010, 05:58:54 PM »
Of course, if you were to measure the muzzle velocity, you could also measure the recoil, so in this case, the muzzle velocity wouldn't be needed.  Not that you couldn't measure both...

Offline Cannoneer

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Re: New Handgonnes from Dom
« Reply #33 on: August 09, 2010, 06:53:36 PM »
Remember that rifled antique black powder Brit cannon recovered from Afghanistan cannonmn had? Bet the Afghanis made a ton of handgonnes over the years :)

I do remember; I think he had two of those English made rifled steel muzzleloaders.

The Afghans probably have made a whole bunch of 'Assadullah Khan Mörkös' through the years, but I'd bet that all the surviving specimens are missing their heads by now. :D
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Offline Victor3

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Re: New Handgonnes from Dom
« Reply #34 on: August 10, 2010, 05:08:25 PM »
If I'm reading right, you're calculating for a steel ball. Isn't 500 fps a little low? What charge would give that velocity?

Yes, that is correct.  It is an entirely WAG and I have no idea how much powder would be required.  However, a typical gonne has a relatively short bore compared to a more modern cannon so I would not expect the ball to achieve similar velocities and, since the gonnes are typically chambered, I wouldn't expect the charge to be as great as a cannon.

Time for some measured experiments.

 I guess if the charge were light, the weight of the gonne fairly hefty and with a short bore it wouldn't be bad to fire, even with a lead ball.

 I was thinking along the lines of some larger bore gonnes I've seen, being dimensioned more like a cannon on a stick than a mortar.
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

Sherlock Holmes