about to start building my first cannon. any tips?

[kirch]

i plan on building a naval style cannon out of brass. making it a .5" bore to shoot common musket balls that are avalible at cabellas. Any pointers or tips? what charge should i use? and how long should the barrel be?


if this build goes good, i may do a golf ball cannon next

[dan610324]

the 1 caliber rule is the most important thing to know

all walls surrounding the charge should be minimum 1 caliber thick .


for the powder charge I would use 30 grains ffg
bore deep can vary from 18 to 30 calibers depending on model and age

[Cat Whisperer]

kirch -

WELCOME to the board!

Pick the style of cannon you want to have.  (Some are easier to build than others.)  If you're into building steam engines you have more than enough skills; if you can operate a file and a drill you still can do it!

Find a picture of one that you like, then the search for plans kicks in.  There are many sources.

Dan gave you GOOD advice - the first thing to think of is SAFETY.  He touched on design and load.  Look also at materials.

[Double D]

Know what you want to build before you start.  Have a plan.   Build your first gun from a drawing. You will learned the proportions and end up with a much more pleasing looking gun.  If you don't have a plan ask for one.

[kirch]

this is about what i'm going for. i'm not worried about it being historically correct or anything. does anyone have any plans for something close to this?

[Double D]

Historically correct isn't important...aesthetically pleasing...if your cannon is ugly you won't shoot it. My SAMCC is not historically coorect but it looks good.



The gun  Pictured in your attachment is basically a  British 32 Pounder  There is a good discussion and drawing of several variations of the gun found here. http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,112239.0.html  look at post number 11.  You can scale from that picture.

Here is a link to the SAMCC gun with out the heavy muzzle swell http://mysite.verizon.net/gfg/images/SAMCCGun32Muzz.gif.  You can work from that drawing fairly easily.  Do your own version, leave the mouldings off or change the shape, what ever suits you.

[brokenpole]

Kirch,

Welcome to the addiction.      You have already taken the two most important steps. Picked out your style and come to this forum for advice.  The folks that post on this forum are knowledgable about all manor or cannon and mortar. But we are all stress safety first.

Post pics as your build progresses. First, we all like to see them and second, someone may see something that needs attention and tells you about it before you end up with a paper weight. Trust me, I have one of those. 

Last thing, when you are done. We want pics of fire and smoke. Even video if you take any. 

Good luck.

[dan610324]

this maybe
not an english 32 pdr , but a swedish 24 pdr
scale it up a little and you could have a 50 cal bore

[Cannoneer]

Hi, kirch!
I have one of the models seen in your photo, it has a .56 caliber 11-inch barrel, and it's meant to represent a 24-pounder from the U.S.S. Constitution. Unfortunately I don't have the assembly sheet; but GGaskill (board member) machined a larger scale barrel that's very similar in appearance, and he's got drawings (he'll be around later).

[kirch]

Thanks for the quick replies! Double D, thanks for the blueprint, that is exactly the info i needed. i pulled the picture from the ClassyBrass website. once i get this started next week, i'll be sure to post pics and such.

Keep the info coming!

[GGaskill]

I do have plans for the 24 pounder although it was cast iron, not bronze/brass originally.  My plans are 1/5 scale/1" bore but are easily altered to another scale.  If you have CAD software that can input a dxf or dwg file, you can alter them to any scale you like.

Current condition:



One thing to add--brass is expensive.  A 1/10 scale model of this gun (which would be good for .5" bore) would use 2" bar stock.  Cheap in steel, expensive in brass.

[kirch]

well, first one is built! due to avalible tooling, i had to make it a bit smaller than planned, with an overall length of about 8 inches, and a bore depth of 6. took about 3 hours start to finish. Pics will be posted when i get home from work! maybe do the carriage tomorrow?

[Rickk]

And don't forget that the carriage can always be an exact reproduction of a revolutionary-in-design, one-of-a-kind gun carriage that was on a ship that sunk in a bad storm without a trace. 

It happened on a Tuesday as I recall.

 

[Cat Whisperer]

And don't forget that the carriage can always be an exact reproduction of a revolutionary-in-design, one-of-a-kind gun carriage that was on a ship that sunk in a bad storm without a trace. 

It happened on a Tuesday as I recall.

 

I think it not only was on a tuesday, but in January of 1898.