Interesting old firecracker cannon

[cannonmn]

All I know is that it is said to be 26 inches long.  The owner says it has been in their family since the 1890's.
I don't have permission to hotlink it so you need to open the links manually.  I had some problems getting the links to open.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/iamselling2u/acannon1.JPG

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/iamselling2u/acannon5.JPG

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/iamselling2u/acannon4.JPG

[KABAR2]

It looks like some one to a really nice cannon model and made a breech loader out of it...........
by the cannon & carriage details I'd say 17th C design, it's a shame they cut the back
of the breech off.

[cannonmn]

Agree, a shame, I seriously doubt that it came with that crude breech mech.  People were kind of ruthless back when, when it came to antiques. 

There's a gent in PA who got a very nice Hotchkiss 1.65 in. breechloading mountain gun.  He couldn't quite figure out the ignition system it came with so instead of just asking someone, he bored a vent in the top of the barrel so he could shoot it.  When I saw that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, or what to say, so I just went and hid for a while.

[cannonmn]

Y'know, I looked at the pix again and I think there's at least a possibility that the thing came already configured with that breech.   The main reason I think that is there's no vent or even a simulation of one in the casting, where a vent ought to be.  ??

[KABAR2]

It's possible that the vent area left when the breech was cut?

[RocklockI]

To me the skill levels just dont match up , great lines and workmanship on the carrige and tube ....then there's the breech thingage.....it looks crude .

JMHO

[Double D]

Kabar, that is what it looks like to me.

[GGaskill]

Depends, I guess, if it was originally designed as a firecracker cannon.  It certainly seems too detailed to be a cheap piece and the breech looks like it was simply faced off.  But judging from typical breech proportions, there wouldn't have been much behind the current end and the vent should have been in the remaining part of the barrel.  It would be a lot easier to use as a breechloading firecracker cannon than as a muzzleloading firecracker cannon.

[KABAR2]

Here is a humble attempt to show what the breech may have looked like......

[cannonmn]

I had a weird thought, the owner told me the chamber was about 7/8 in. dia, which by the way would accommodate a 12-gauge pinfire shotgun shell.  A 12 gauge blank pinfire cartridge should fit, and the pin would stick up into the hole when you closed the breech.  So then you could fire it by thrusting something like a pin punch down the slot in the breech closure.  Since this cannon is way overkill for the usual firecracker cannon, I wonder if it could have been either designed or modified to fire pinfire shotgun blanks?

[KABAR2]

well the breech looks about right for a pin fire, it definitely looks strong enough for that....... 
I still think it was modified at a latter date.