British iron & bronze barrel weights.......?

[broadarrow]

Hi Folks, I am currently adding the finishing touches to a scale British light 6 pounder field gun with an iron barrel and was wishing to add the weight amount of the full size item given in the British fashion of three sets of punctuated numbers to the barrel, anybody out there with any information on the weight of these barrels in the full size model it would be very appreciated if I could get hold of any charts listing this information and I suppose there are others looking for similar data for cannons, mortars & howitzers in iron or bronze of different calibers, Thanks in advance for your response, Regards, Broadarrow

[cannonmn]

Hi, I'm just slightly confused, I could take your question two ways:

1.  What were typical weights of British 6-pounder cannon so I can mark mine with a typical weight?

2.  How do I convert the weight of mine into hundredweights so I can mark it properly?


I'll answer the second one since it is easier, and is the way I'd do it.  British and also some early US artillery pieces were marked in the tradition of British commercial castings which were typically sold by weight.  Anvils were also marked this way and I have one, and I only bought it because it had the hundredweight marks on it.

Here's an example.  Let's say you find a cannon marked under the cascabel with 5-3-11.  First digit, 5, is hundredweights, or 5x112 lbs.  Second is quartels, so it is 3 x 28 lbs.  The third is single pounds so add 11 lbs to the total. 

560+84+11 lbs. if I did that right.

I'd recommend weighing your cannon barrel when it is completed, and still bare with no paint, then converting the wt to hundredweights and marking the cannon with that weight.  Sorry but I can' t see marking the gun with some "typical" number that isn't the actual weight, unless yours is a scale model or something.

[cannonmn]

Here's some info from table 2 of "British Smooth Bore Artillery by B.P. Hughes.

These are weights and nominal lengths for light bronze 6-pounders:

CWT-hundredweights (112 lbs.)

period:

1750-1810  5', 5 1/2 CWT

1820-1860  5', 6 CWT


The powder charge for these is listed as 1 1/2 lbs., range at 4 degrees elevation was 1200 yards.

Table 3 lists iron 6-pounders, one type being 8 feet long, weighing 22 cwt, the other was 6 feet long, weighing 16 1/2 CWT.  These weights seem very high to me, I wonder if there's some mistake.  The title of the table is "British Iron Guns in Land Service 1750-1860."