Author Topic: What do you launch from your mortar or cannon? (Read 3473 times)

Cat Whisperer · « **on:** January 11, 2003, 02:59:01 PM »

One of the major difficulties with mortar and cannon firing is finding affordable ammunition.

What do you fire?

I'll post pictures of what I've done in a day or so.

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #1 on:** January 11, 2003, 05:30:02 PM »

For my mortar, I use tomato paste cans filled cement.

Double D · « **Reply #2 on:** January 12, 2003, 05:47:11 AM »

Stuffy,

Got pictures?

Do you paint your cans or shoot them au natural?

What's your load?

JeffG · « **Reply #3 on:** January 12, 2003, 06:42:31 AM »

2 3/4 inch South Bend Coehorn, 3lb lead trolling downrigger weights patched with crisco and terry cloth towel, 1/4 cup 1fg.
or Mountain Dew-conrete full wadcutters.
My blank load is 1/2 cup ffg, a tennis ball patched with Crisco and terry towel. The neighbors spill beer all over when THAT one goes off! :grin:

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #4 on:** January 12, 2003, 07:30:03 AM »

Quote from: Double D

Stuffy,

Got pictures?

Do you paint your cans or shoot them au natural?

What's your load?

As for a load, I shoot 150 gr. ff
Don't paint my ammo, put I do screw a strip of lawn chair webbing to the load, that way you can track it much easier thru the air.
Had a couple of pictures of it from last fall, I'll have to find them and send them in.
My mortar was made sometime in the early 60's.
I have an old Shooting Times magazine dated Feb. 1962 that has a group of fellows in it that are shooting mortars just like mine.
Mine looks like a scaled down seige mortar, has a gear drive on the bottom that is used for elevation. It has a hammer system for firing a muskit cap. Weight is about 80 lb.
The man who started building them was Bob Tingle, he made these from an old steam engine crankshaft.
Keep it out in the garage, will try to get out there and take a couple more pictures of it.
I'm a member of the CWSA, we have mortar shoots about twice a year, but I take it out during the summer months just to have fun with.

Double D · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2003, 08:52:58 AM »

Jeff,

Do you get better ballistic performance from Mountain Dew than say Diet Coke or Pepsi :wink:

Never considered patching or lubing my slugs, neat idea.

Do you shot your mortar in competition or just for fun or both?

Stuffy,

Is that CWSA the same as the BLUE AND GRAY SKIRMISH ASSOCIATION?

Is that you and your gun firing on their website? Lawn chair webbing, that's clever.

I tried running a piece of cannon fuse up a hole in the bottom of the can and out the pull tab hole into a small plastic bag of FFFFG. Filled the can with cement, then stuffed the bag down in the cement through pull tab hole. The idea was for the firing of the gun to light the fuse and then burn up to powder and make a puff of smoke. Worked twice, didn't once.

When the powder lit off it was so high up we could barely see the smoke. It also caused the projectile to start tumbling. The one that didn't lite off just stopped burning in the cement. No O2?

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2003, 11:04:38 AM »

Quote from: Double D

Jeff,

Do you get better ballistic performance from Mountain Dew than say Diet Coke or Pepsi :wink:

Never considered patching or lubing my slugs, neat idea.

Do you shot your mortar in competition or just for fun or both?

Stuffy,

Is that CWSA the same as the BLUE AND GRAY SKIRMISH ASSOCIATION?

Is that you and your gun firing on their website? Lawn chair webbing, that's clever.

I tried running a piece of cannon fuse up a hole in the bottom of the can and out the pull tab hole into a small plastic bag of FFFFG. Filled the can with cement, then stuffed the bag down in the cement through pull tab hole. The idea was for the firing of the gun to light the fuse and then burn up to powder and make a puff of smoke. Worked twice, didn't once.

When the powder lit off it was so high up we could barely see the smoke. It also caused the projectile to start tumbling. The one that didn't lite off just stopped burning in the cement. No O2?

CWSA stands for Civil War Skirmish Association.
We are about the same as the NSSA.
I am with the 25th IA of the Trans-Mississippi Region.

Double D · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2003, 01:35:51 PM »

Nice Iron, Stuffy!

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2003, 01:56:09 PM »

Quote from: Double D

Nice Iron, Stuffy!

Once shoot it in my back yard, used 400 gr. ff. Hit a large tree 1/8th of a mile away 4 out of five times.

JeffG · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2003, 04:56:15 PM »

Nice iron, Stuffy!!

Jeff,

Do you get better ballistic performance from Mountain Dew than say Diet Coke or Pepsi

Never considered patching or lubing my slugs, neat idea.

Do you shot your mortar in competition or just for fun or both?

Stuffy,

Naw, Mt. Dew is what I had handy in the recycling bin, sometimes I will pour an old screw eye into the concrete, attach a piece of stovepipe wire, and let the can tow out 100 feet of orange surveyor's ribbon, the kids love it!
The mortar is just for fun, a great target is a fitted sheet, up on 3 foot 1x2's and a cup or so of flour tossed on...when it hits, POOF! Patching increases accuracy shot to shot, and helps fouling....gotta use Cannon towels, though!

I have to get the kid's digital camera and get the old bucket on the site! Later

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #10 on:** January 13, 2003, 01:50:23 AM »

The ouestion was ask if the CWSA was the same as the Blue and Gray Ass. Well it is, they have changed their name, I didn't know it until last night. Was looking on their site for shoot date info and seen the change in the name.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #11 on:** January 13, 2003, 03:38:42 PM »

Yo - Stuffy25thIA

Are you from Iowa? I assume the unit draws from surrounding territory.
(I grew up in Grinnell, spent two tours at ISU and have lived in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Counci Bluffs.)

Good cannon and mortar country too.

Good lookin' design on the shootin' iron!

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #12 on:** January 13, 2003, 04:27:10 PM »

Quote from: Cat Whisperer

Yo - Stuffy25thIA

Are you from Iowa? I assume the unit draws from surrounding territory.
(I grew up in Grinnell, spent two tours at ISU and have lived in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Counci Bluffs.)

Good cannon and mortar country too.

Good lookin' design on the shootin' iron!

Live in Bloomfield, about 105 miles South of Des Moines.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #13 on:** January 13, 2003, 05:05:31 PM »

Just looked at the map - 85 miles from home (Grinnell). That's close.

Being near the Des Moines river it must be hilly.

Good people there.

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #14 on:** January 14, 2003, 01:40:35 AM »

Quote from: Cat Whisperer

Just looked at the map - 85 miles from home (Grinnell). That's close.

Being near the Des Moines river it must be hilly.

Good people there.

Have rolling hills with alot of timber to hunt.
Lot of good people from here, as from all of Iowa.

Double D · « **Reply #15 on:** January 14, 2003, 07:32:03 AM »

I was in Iowa just this past September. I saw neither hills nor timber. I saw lot of rolling plains and deep gullies with trees. (Qualification for this statement: I am from Oregon, and was moving from Montana)

What I did see was country that just had to be loaded with deer. Sit up on the side of one of those gullies and fire my Mortar off into the trees and see what that cannon slug kicks out.

That is about the deeryest country I saw on our trip east.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #16 on:** January 14, 2003, 12:56:41 PM »

DD -
You got it! rolling plains, LOTS of corn, hogs and the BEST (corn fed) beef in the nation. It varies a bit from part to part as well. There are some heavily forested areas and a few hills here and there. It's deceiving though, you can drive 50 miles and go from 2000 feet above sea level to 900 and not perceive it.

We used to wait until it was 10 below for 3 weeks straight - that would freeze the rivers. Many small rivers would be a few feet deep and 50 feet wide with 20 foot high banks. That provided a place out of the wind to shoot (did I mention that the wind blows in Iowa?).

The wind starts coming off the rockies down across Nebraska - and the only thing slowing it down there is a two-strand barbed wire fence - and on of those strands is broke.

Once we tried shooting INTO the wind to see what effect it would have - the water filled tin can went up, up, up, and got caught by the wind - landed BEHIND us.

Stuffy25thIA · « **Reply #17 on:** January 14, 2003, 01:33:05 PM »

Quote from: Double D

I was in Iowa just this past September. I saw neither hills nor timber. I saw lot of rolling plains and deep gullies with trees. (Qualification for this statement: I am from Oregon, and was moving from Montana)

What I did see was country that just had to be loaded with deer. Sit up on the side of one of those gullies and fire my Mortar off into the trees and see what that cannon slug kicks out.

That is about the deeryest country I saw on our trip east.

I'm in the Southeast part of the state, just 25 miles from the Missouri line.
We have a lot of timber, hills, deer, and more wild Turkey than people.
Bird hunting here has been poor the last few years, quail and pheasant that is, but go north 50 miles and they have quit a few.

Big Richard Hertzer · « **Reply #18 on:** February 09, 2003, 04:32:38 AM »

Made these out of Conduit with sheet metal fins welded on

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #19 on:** February 09, 2003, 06:31:29 AM »

Richard -

Cool rounds! How do they shoot? Have you tried for maximum distance as well as for accuracy?

With my 4.5" at 100 yards (light charge and 75d elevation for 7.5 lbs of concrete) we get great consistancy in range (+/- inches) and several feet apart (5-6') laterally.

Spring is coming ....

Big Richard Hertzer · « **Reply #20 on:** February 09, 2003, 06:39:03 AM »

This means i can find the damm things ! I spray paint the tail fins with Orange Marking paint,Usally i can find the tail fins sticking out of the ground with no problems. Adding a short section of road flare will give you a tracer But i've had to play fireman on more than one occastion

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #21 on:** February 09, 2003, 06:59:09 AM »

Richard -
I know what you mean. I tried ONCE using newspaper behind the 3 or 4 golf balls in a Napoleon cannon. Little fires for 30' out in front of the bore. (In Virginia, if you start the forrest fire, you pay for the costs of putting it out too!)