1st shots - 2/3 scale mt howitzer

[sseib]

First a few finished pictures.



The business end.



All show and no go up till now.



the problem child as I would later find out.

Thanks

Steve Seib

[sseib]

We took it out for the first shots yesterday after work and developed primer problems. I designed it to use musket caps but we had such a problem with it, we had to set a BB on top of the cap to get it to fire. Out of close to 30 pulls, we only shot three times.



Waiting, waiting, waiting!



1st ignition, 1oz Fg - blew a perfect smoke ring that I hope someone else got a shot of.



2nd ignition, 2oz Fg - lots of noise and a big cloud of smoke.

Thanks

Steve Seib

[sseib]

Cleaning the primer hole.



Sponging the barrel while thumbing the primer hole.



1st shot with projectile, 1-1/2 oz Fg and a saboted 4lb steel ball - excellent report, lots of smoke, cannon moved about 4 ft back, buried ball approx 75yrd away into the hillside about a foot from aim-point, found it approx 2-1/2 ft deep in bank. Cool!



The problem child showed it's ugly head at this point and destroyed the spring plunger we used to snap the musket caps. It collapsed the spring and bent the locking pin. We talked about redesigning it for shotgun primers but after seeing the spring damage we modified it to accept 3/16 dia friction primers instead. Even if they cost $10 each it would have been worth it after all those mis-fires.

Thanks for looking, comments.

Steve Seib

PS - I think I am going to plasma cut spokes into the wheels before painting it.

[Cannoneer]

sseib,

Great howitzer, carriage and photo show (you'll work out the kinks in the ignition system)!

Where did you get the wheels, (or to be more exact) what were they originally intended for?

I'd sure love to see some more detailed pics of your barrel and carriage.

[brokenpole]

sseib, thanks so much for posting the pics of your new howitzer.  Looks like you had a full cannon crew to man the gun too.   

I think I can smell the blackpowder and hear the report from that beautiful gun.

[BillinOregon]

I think the mountain howitzer is just about the loveliest cannon out there, right up there with the 3-inch ordnance rifle. Yours is lovely. Great idea on plasma cutting some light into those wheels. Thanks for the inspiring photos.

[sseib]

Cannoneer,

after we finished the barrel I walked around the shop looking for something to build a temporary carriage. There was a stack of 20 or so baffle plates for a heat exchanger that were burned 1/4" too small in dia, we drilled them, turned some stepped hubs and welded them in. Then we wrapped them with some 1/4 x 2" flat bar. The stock & axle are 2 x 4 rectangular tube and the cheeks are 1" aluminum plate.

Steve Seib

[sseib]

Here is a video of the first shot, keep in mind I cut over 90 minutes out due to waiting between shots and mis-fires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1456-uvP85E

Thanks,
Steve Seib