Well, we are finally back in Colorado. The vehicle has another 3,200 miles on it. We sure had a great time in Mansfield and encourage anyone interested in artillery to consider going next year. Mike and I will be back for sure. The GBO Black Powder Cannon and Mortar board member attendance list, in the order in which they showed up,
is as follows:
seacoastartillery
Cpt. Ed
Intoodeep
DAS
Guardsgunner
Artilleryman
BGBore
Powder-2-Burn
We think that is a very respectable showing considering some of the distances involved! Mike and I had a great time chatting with everyone who stopped by and we learned a lot by
attending this excellent show as well. Mike and I had a great time getting to know some of the GBO membership. They all were very friendly guys and had some very interesting stories to tell. Guardsgunner had two really excellent display/trade tables of antique firearms and accesories in the Youth building. He was so busy with customers when I stopped by I couldn't even squeeze in to say HI. Mike and I were grateful when he stopped by at our table during a brief lull on Sat. to talk. We learned a bit more about the rifled Ellsworth guns they built and we really appreciate the info about shooting rifled projectiles. DAS was toting some excellent ordinance and his daughter was very enthusiastic about her fathers work. The finish on his blued mortars was really excellent and the detail displayed on his field artillery was very, very nice.
All we can say is that we are very proud to be a part of this truly fine group!!
We had a chance to talk with Bruce and Bernie Paulson of PBO Corp., mostly about politics this time and about cannons too, of course. When we visited their fascinating artillery museum and shop last December, they took about a five hour coffee break and gave us a critique of the 100 Pdr. Parrott Rifle we make, and a detailed tour of their facility. To say we learned a lot, is a gross understatement. I guess our 100 Pdr. passed muster, because we were added to their brief list of links on the PBO Corp, website. We consider this an honor and have no plans to relax our quality standards in the future.
Jack Bell, author of Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordinance
introduced himself and we learned more about Parrott and Brooke bolts and shells. We really appreciated his words of encouragement, "Keep doing what you are doing, guys, keep it up!"
Matt Switlik stopped by and told us the fascinating story of "Old Betsy" and the complicated carriage versions that evolved over the last 195 years. We really appreciate his knowledge
and willingness to share it. If you don't have his book, The More Complete Canoneer
, buy it!
We had the pleasure of meeting Fred Chapman, owner of Chapman and Sons, makers of fine artillery sights. He had the table right next to ours. We took a close look at the pendulum hausse field artillery sight he makes. It displayed excellent workmanship and we found out how he gets the lead in the finely crafted brass bulb at the bottom.
Don Lutz of Antique Ordinance Publishers had 5 or 6 tables across the aisle from us and he also imparted some knowledge about parrott rifles and testing documents. We already have four of his excellent ordinance drawing folios and had to buy six more, of course!
Thomas Bailey, owner of Historical Ordinance Works stopped by and we talked about their complete and thorough efforts used in restoring original field artillery carriages and building replacement ones too. We also asked him about that "dazzle paint job" on the restored French 75 featured on their website. He says it is a completely authentic camoflage scheme used to break up the long straight lines of the tube and recoil mechanism. It certainly is very well done; take a look!
We sure did have fun and we WILL be back!! Intoodeep really did a fine job on taking pictures and posting them. Our camera seemed to do quite poorly on this trip.
Mike and Tracy
Seacoast Artillery Company
Some of the fired and unfired bolts and shells(inert display) for the 1/6 scale 100 Pdr. Parrott Rifle we make.
[img width= height= alt=image hosting by
https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/mansf2.jpg[/img]
Mike had the idea to throw a small LED light down the bore so everyone could see the rifling. It worked great!!
[img width= height= alt=image hosting by
https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/]https://www.gboreloaded.com/mhp/images/jurnan54/mansf3.jpg[/img]
