K.I.S.S. bowling ball mortar

[Double D]

 
 
 
 
In the fall of 2010 after some thought I had George acquire the  large steel for  me .   Friend Southpaw and his wife were headed south Snowbirding for the winter.  They connected up with George in southern Cal  and load up the tube that weighed some where around 150 lbs and the trunnion piece  that weighed some where around 110 lbs in the back of their Volkswagen station wagon.   Ernie was pulling the VW behind his motorhome  and he said every bump he hit made the VW drag bottom.  When he got home with the steel, he sold the VW and the motor home burned up---hey not my fault. 
 

Ahahahahaha.  I was just rereading this old post and saw this.   It turned out that piece of steel for the tube weighed just over 400 lbs.  No wonder that V-dub was dragging.

[Double D]

Well this legacy ends, or rather is passed on.






I no longer have a place to shoot this mortar and it has just been sitting in storage.

I have been contemplating selling it, but to who?  A lot of work went into the  building this mortar.   It needed to go to someone who would appreciate it

At the 2011 Cut  Bank Cannon convention we had two young men from  North Dakota-Aaron and Corey who were new to cannons and cannon shooting. We were all impressed by their eagerness to learn and their enthusiasm.  It was a pleasure to meet them. They soaked up the knowledge like a pair of sponges.

I haven't heard from them in a number of years. About 6 weeks ago Aaron, contacted me. He was looking for a cannon.  I suggested he look at the Verbruggen at  Hern.  Then I mentioned the bowling ball mortar.  He got excited.

Two weeks ago  Aaron and  Corey drove 16 hours down from ND to OK and showed up at my doorstep.  My  bowling ball mortar had new owners.




Corey's son Tanner came down also.  Tanner horse traded me a bit and went home with a K.I.S.S. Confederate pattern Coehorn mortar. He worked a deal that got him a pound FG  powder, four zinc round balls, and fuse as boot.



Aaron I made a deal for the  Junk yard dog.  Well actually the deal we made; I sold him 33 6pdr Zinc round ball and I tossed in the Junk yard dog.



The brothers also got away with prize possession of mine- the Dom Dictator.  This is a big heavy mortar--90 lbs that I can no longer handle.  It was just sitting in a corner gathering dust.



The big Dom Dictator is seen here on the left, by a slightly smaller kit Dictator mortar from  Dominic Carpenter. The smaller mortar, "The Lady Jane".  Both mortars are popcan bore.

Here is the final load out for the guys for their trip back to ND. The bowling ball mortar came with 17 bowling balls, a bunch of tools and friction primers and what ever Fa powder was left over from the 25 lbs the I got from  GoW (3-4 lbs)