new guy here,just like to say hello.

[hammer shell]

just like to say greetings to the board.have been lurking for a few weeks and finally had to make a quick post.have loved black powder cannon all my life.
built my first one in high school years ago on a atlas lathe the school had.
it was a brass canon with a half inch bore.i still have it all in one piece,and it has withstood  the punishment of a dumb kid very well.
 
have never fire any large cannon,and must say i have a lot to learn.
but i am not ignorant of black powder proplushion. i have built and  shot
large fireworks shells for 20 years.in many ways there is little difference.
we use mortars,or we call them just guns for short to fire are shells.
 
these guns range in size from 2'' to 24'' in diameter.most of the shows i have
done are 3- 12s sometimes a 16.the muzzle blast off a 8"' shell that might weigh 20 lbs and up is incredible.
 
right now i have access to a large lathe and am thinking of a canon project.so i may be asking a few dumb questions,so i hope you will be kind........hammer

[GGaskill]

It would probably be a good idea to make a relatively small barrel as your first project on the big lathe if for no other reason than gaining familiarity with the machine before putting an expensive piece of metal at risk.  I would suggest starting with a 1/2 scale mountain howitzer.  4" diameter steel (cold rolled 1018 or hot rolled 1020) 18.75" in length, about $60 for new material.  You can drill it with an ordinary taper shank drill to proper depth.  Only one short taper and three relatively large radii besides the cascable.  And it won't take too long to finish.

[Double D]

Welcome, Hammer shell glad to have you.  Good first gun advice George gave you.  Drop me a mesasage via PM and I'll get you a set of plans.

[Cat Whisperer]

hammer shell -

Good to have you on board.  Welcome!  You have some experiences that are a bit different from a lot of us - and we're eager to hear stories, see pictures and learn from you.

This is a board where a lot of folks are realizing dreams they had as kids - glad to have you amoung us!

[CU_Cannon]

Welcome

...i may be asking a few dumb questions...

The only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask until it is too late.

[hammer shell]

thanks for the welcome. yes a mountain howitzer was one of my first choices.
and  a half scale would be best.but i really would like to do a fullscale for full effect..thanks for the offer of plans double d,i may take you up on that.is the bore on the half scale 2" ? at least it would not be a powder hog. i have a link
of pics from one of are shoots a few years back.loads slow sorry.but it will give you an idea of what we have shot out of hdpe plastic,cardboard tube,and steel pipe. yes it is seemed pipe,and i have only seen one blow up on lifting a shell.and we purdy much new it was going to blow .but thats another story.
the red shells in the pics are about 20lb each,and the yellow one in the box i think was 79lb.these were timed to brake at about 1500 feet give or take.
hode to do a little junk yarding this weekend ,so i'll keep ya posted.....hammer

http://nlp.pyro.com/images/Shows/00-07/HayLake00-07.htm

[Double D]

I don't know what scale the plans are I generally scale them up or down to fit the stock I have.