Smoke

[MR.GADGET]

Ok, I think it sounds like people are taking it a little far with the newspaper stuff. I can go into all the what if and could happen.
We kind of work of the N-SSA rules because that is what we shoot. I don't see how anyone could be shot by the paper, Everyone must be 50 feet I think it is behind the shooting line and it may be more, we have it marked and I have never walked it off. At some shoots they may be on the line if we are shooting live, because it is a comp. A few cases like in the first pic people are closer but never even close to one the line, so I see no way to hit someone. Also when we shoot live rounds that gun is a 6 lb, the recoil is big, many feet. When we shoot blanks it never moves, I don't see how the pressure could be that high. When using wet paper we only use a few pieces of paper and make it wet to cut down the risk of fire. The last shoot we even had a fire truck if any problems. Now if one of you guys would take the full sunday paper and soak it then hammer it into the gun I could see maybe a problem. I have never seen a large piece of wad on the range after shooting it looks like a little makes it to the ground if any most gets burnt.
We need to remember that we all have different guns and we all shoot different loads as with the range we shoot on.
But for people to say that someone should not shoot paper wad, or live loads because some one could get shot, is like the anti gunner saying we should not shoot cannons we should just look at them...
I can see if people say you should not use wads when people are down range that could be hit. Then I would come back with: you should never shoot anything when anyone is down range.
I know there is all types of stories about what someone did and the gun failed. People need to just be smart about shooting. I would never shoot any wad in a cast or junk made cannon but our gun is made for full live loads, so there is a difference.
BTW I never take safety lightly.

Cat Whisperer, what type of cannon, cast, steel, cast with a steel liner? How old was the gun. What was the charge in the gun? How much and how wet was the paper. How long have the people been shooting it, did they know what they were doing?
I have been in the gun shop and people bring in shotguns that have blown up and say they would never own that brand of gun or be around someone shooting that brand.... When I look at the gun and ask if there was mud in the barrel, they said yes "I dropped it before I shot it"... "but,but,but a gun should never blow up"..... I have seen that many times over the 17 years I have worked at this shop. If I go from what they say..... I would never shoot a shotgun... Sometimes its the people..

Dan, our loads are in foil, and for the most part it is always in the barrel after we shoot.

Maybe we need to just shoot live loads in the dark and all the time we can, it's just a waste of zinc but I like it when a cannon comes running after you and not just sitting and never move. I love recoil, that's why I shot about 10,000 rounds in my black powder guns last year, most in 58 cal but a lot of 44 cal, 54 cal and 69 cal smoothie, all with 50 to 80 gr of Goex. I put 200 rounds or so in the 12 lb mortar for comps and a few practice... 

I have not been a real fan of wet wadding, like you say "to make pressure" the amount of pressure depending on how much wet wadding is used
can create more pressure than is desired stressing your tube

Yes, yes, yes, It can create more pressure then the desired stress or pressure, so can adding to much powder, or a lead ball or zinc......
People need to be smart and know when to stop......under N-SSA rules they have powder and ball rules to keep it safe. I don't load the powder box so I'm not for sure but what I remember and know some other people shoot, a cannon like ours with a zinc ball has a load for the N-SSA of about 4 oz but if we go up north on the 600 yard or more we would be shooting 8 oz or more under NAA rules... I don't see how a few sheets of wet paper could get to that pressure....

[Victor3]

 "I don't see how a few sheets of wet paper could get to that pressure...."

 Me neither. I believe that the wad would rupture in the center before any dangerous pressure could build up.

 However, I can see how a tightly packed wet paper wad one caliber long or so might compress to the point where it would stick tightly in the bore to possibly cause very high pressure.

 Some time back there was a video clip posted here - It showed English women doing some kind of cannon firing demonstration where they packed large clumps of wet grass into their guns for wadding. One poster noted that with the heavy-handed way they were ramming the guns, Fg must have been crushed into FFFFg.

 I don't remember anyone noting that the practice might be dangerous though...

[dan610324]

this is a lot of interesting info , hope there will come more comments and stories here.

sometimes when I read and hear about accidents with cannons involved Im just not so sure if people know what they are doing .

Ive hear about people using nitro cellulosa and different kinds of flash powder .

I can just agree to the words  :  if you invent something foolproof , someone just invent an bigger fool .

sorry folks , I just cant remember who of you it is that have those words in the end of the messages   

[seacoastartillery]

      J. P. Barnett, President of South Bend Replicas, Inc. probably has had more experience than anyone in the country producing  "Resonant Booms".  He has performed at countless 1812 Overture performances.  Since Neither Mike nor I have ever fired a blank charge, we will turn our posting completely over to Mr. Barnett.  The following excerpt is all information on this topic from South Bend's huge Catalog of Antique/Replica Ordnance.

FYI,  Mike and Tracy

          "REPORT:  An underloaded blank in a cannon barrel will "sneeze", rather than produce a healthy boom.  The proper blank load, assuming light or no wadding, is the minimum quantity of powder required to raise the report over the edge from a "sneeze" into a resonant report.  Venturing beyond that by increasing either powder or wadding is venturing toward overloading, with all its attendant hazards.  Raising the level to a piercing blast is flat overloading, and is flatly hazardous.  The powder charge for ball loads is below that used for blanks:  generally, about half or less; in mortars and howitzers, a mere fraction.

          WADDING:  Contrary to folklore, increasing the amount of wadding used, if wadding is used at all, is the poorest way to control report.  Excessive wadding does not safely increase report.  A long column of wet newspaper, et cetera, is among the worst possible types of wads.

          Anything placed in a bore has to get back out of it instantly, and under pressure.  A long gummy wad can expand under pressure into a perfect bore seal, tightening yet further as the pressure increases, and then performing exactly as history and physics show bore obstructions to perform in any powder instrument, regardless of type or vintage.  For most use, wadding is not necessary at all.  Where it is necessary to use small amounts, the proper function of it is not to plug the bore.  Excessive wadding creates needless, and possibly serious, hazards.

          Ordinary grass (the kind one walks on) makes good wadding when wadding is necessary.  Rock wool is also light and non-combustible, and crumbles readily:  all desirable characteristics in wadding.

          A reasonable rule of thumb for wadding, when used, is to limit its length to the diameter of the bore or less.  But with properly adjusted blank charges, wadding is usually superfluous, and under some circumstances can create hazards.

          Wadding is also unnecessary behind ball loads."

[MR.GADGET]

Very good info and all in the lines of what I had to say.
Anything over loaded is bad. I would never put anything in a bore that is larger then the ball we shoot. I would never pack it tight and or roll it up, then place it in the tube.
We use it to make the steel wool burn, if we did not then it would just shoot the SW out and never make a good light show. Also found with nothing but powder it will blow the unburnt powder out and cause a fire or in a lot of wind could get on the cannon crew and maybe burn them. The only reason we use it is to increase the pressure a very small amount to make sure the powder and SW will burn in a safe way and not on the ground then start a fire.