I'm Unbalanced!

[CrufflerSteve]

Some years back I bought a barrel from a fellow who machined it. Its about 32" long with a bore slightly under 2". It weighs in around 90 to 95 pounds. I didn't know anything about BP cannon then but thought it looked cool. I know more now and realize it is something of a bastard and not at all the Napoleon he claimed. It got put aside for some years when I wrecked my back.

Recently I decided to finish it in a naval carriage. I stripped the paint from it since it has a few machining marks I want to clean up. Putting it in the trunnions, I am realizing it is muzzle heavy! Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm going to try to have the tunnions caps fit on quite tight so it doesn't just flop foward. It isn't outrageous. I tried to make it as frictionless as possible and weighed the difference. It came in around 1 or 2 pounds front heavy.

Here's a few pictures of its current state. The carriage is soft maple. I've finished the wheels and axles with a cherry stain which isn't as red as the pictures make it look.

http://home.pcisys.net/~harris/carriage11.jpg
http://home.pcisys.net/~harris/carriage12.jpg

In the second picture, the barrel is really not pointing off to the side. It really is straight on the carriage. Just the funny angle.

Steve

[Double D]

I'd like see a straight side shot.  From what Ii can see the barrel has no taper.  It's a straight tube.The front part of the barrel is longer than the back.

I would take the tube to a machine shop and have them turn a taper in the front half of the barrel, starting at the muzzle ring and ending just in front of the trunnions.  Will make the gun look more napoleon like.  If the trunnions are not yet permanently attached you could extend the taper to just behind the trunnions just as in a napoleon.  This will remove some weight from the front of the gun. and let the rear drop.


You could also take section of pipe and slip it over the breech so it looks likes a parrot rifle.  Just be sure that you put in a liner for the fuse hole.

That's a pretty nice looking piece you have there.  Where did you get those trunnion caps?

[Cat Whisperer]

CrufflerSteve -

I can see a LOT of work that's gone into the cannon!  You're going to have a show piece that's much fun to exercise as well.

Make sure you have enough iron reinforcement in the sides to handle the recoil.  Look at the stress points and make sure they're reinforced.

Can't wait to see the celebration pictures!

[CrufflerSteve]

I'd like see a straight side shot.  From what Ii can see the barrel has no taper.  It's a straight tube.The front part of the barrel is longer than the back."

I would take the tube to a machine shop and have them turn a taper in the front half of the barrel, starting at the muzzle ring and ending just in front of the trunnions.  Will make the gun look more napoleon like.  If the trunnions are not yet permanently attached you could extend the taper to just behind the trunnions just as in a napoleon.  This will remove some weight from the front of the gun. and let the rear drop.

You could also take section of pipe and slip it over the breech so it looks likes a parrot rifle.  Just be sure that you put in a liner for the fuse hole.

That's a pretty nice looking piece you have there.  Where did you get those trunnion caps?

DD - You are right. It has very little muzzle taper. The area behind the muzzle ring is about 1/4" more narrow than the area by the touch hole. It does have a somewhat oversized cascabel. The trunnions are very firmly in place.  They are too wide so I will be trimming them.

I would like it to be machined but it is a question of $'s. If the muzzle ring was removed it would resemble a 3" ordnance rifle. I have thought about making it look like a Parrot with a rear sleeve. I'm set up to do woodwork and some basic welding but not this. Anybody know any cheap machine shops? - hopefully in Colorado.

I got the trunnion caps and a few other pieces of hardware not shown from Duck Island cannon works. http://www.dicannonworks.com/ Helpful people.

Cat Whisperer - It is pretty solid. The front is strong. The rear upper is
fairly weak by itself. However, the rear axle is wide and heavy and attaches solidly to the rear. I am still considering some angle iron back there.

Steve

[Will Bison]

Steve;

Good looking gun from what I can see.

You have quite a few options that I can see. An external sleeve on the breech is fairly simple for a good machine shop. The sleeve could be turned to give it a Parrot look with little effort. With a bit of extra lathe work it shouldn't be too difficult to give it a Dalhgren look.

An external sleeve can be threaded or shrunk on and then turned for final finish. In your case this satisfys several things, it provides weight to the rear and adds strength to the breech area.

Obviously you need to locate a place that has material on hand and I would bet that in the Denver area that won't be too difficult. Ask a machine shop for a source of material and the metal dealer about a machine shop.  Play this game back and forth and I think you'll find the right folks at the right price.

As to cost, a simple sleeve and finish turn on the whole works should be pretty inexpensive. For a good machine shop it's a simple turn.

[CrufflerSteve]

I called around to a bunch of machine shops and just left it off at a place called Precision Pipe. It is helpful being around a cith like Denver. They have the material and machinery to press on a piece at the back to make it look like a Parrot rifle. With the size of my cannon it will be a 5 1/2" long piece, hopefully about 3/8" thick. With the modest muzzle flare of my barrel it will actually really resemble one of the Parrot rifles from my Antique Ordnance books. We balanced it there and that pipe should completely remove the muzzle heavy problem.

The fellow seemed somewhat familiar with black powder and suggested sleeving the vent even before I brought it up. I showed him an illustration of a screw in vent from the "More Complete Cannoneer". He thinks he'll do one out of stainless. It should be ready next week and my carriage will be ready by then. The barrel will need a little grinding and polishing before painting but I hope to fire it within the next few weeks. I will do a web page of all this and post the link here.

Steve

Steve