Guess who dropped by to see the cannon makers at the Broomfield, CO Cannon Manufactory yesterday, again? Like those relatives who drop by on their cross-country vacation trip to say hi, and end up staying a week! That's right, just like those pesky red ants at my rented property in Louisiana or that perennial aphid infestation of my backyard peonies, Gary Lorenz came back, again.
At least he brought something interesting to work on, his new Louverenz Gun, Anno 1660. He was all chipper and happy and begins his spiel by saying, "It's not much of a cannon without a bore, fellas." His eyebrows flutter as if trying to get a, "That's true" or "You've got that right, Gary", response. Instead, I stare him right square in the eyes and say, "Looks just fine the way it is to me, Gary". Then Gary puts the 'Stare' on Mike, and Mike, as resolute as putty, relents and signs up for a five hour adventure. The pics tell the story.
Tracy and Mike
The test indicator is swung 360 degs. to get the muzzle centered.
The 'Dead-Head' is centerdrilled.
Chips and ribbons fly as an aluminum, Base-Ring, Clamping-Collar is machined.
The carefully made clamping collar holds the breech end of Gary's cannon without marring it during lathe turning operations.
The Dead-Head is turned round so it can fit inside a special aluminum, adapter-bushing which, in turn, fits into the steady-rest.
With the tube carefully centered, and held in the same shop-made, steady-rest we use for gundrilling and reaming our customer tubes,
a new, half inch, Milwaukee, drill bit is brought up to peck-drill the bronze bore, .050" per drill bit advance. This method, along with high-sulfur cutting oil, creates a bright, smooth and straight bore. Not loading the bit with compacted chips is the key here. Try it!
Close-up of center-drilled Dead-Head, Aluminum Bushing, Precision Steady-Rest and Milwaukee drill bit.
A muzzle-face perpendicular to the bore is important for the accuracy of this Postal Match shooter. After removing 90% of the Dead-Head with the bandsaw, a new, razor-sharp, 3/4" solid carbide end mill by Weldon is used to very lightly trim off the excess muzzle bronze. A flat, square, no-pits, shiny, muzzle-face resulted.
