Author Topic: Let's see some targets... (Read 3537 times)

Victor3 · « **on:** February 15, 2009, 06:33:39 PM »

Who's got pics of stuff they've blasted with BP cannons?

Cars, refrigerators, steel plate, cinder blocks, cans of beans.... Stuff like that. Things that show the power of the gun.

We show cannon pictures all the time but not many targets.

gary michie · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2009, 08:33:54 PM »

Hi

I'd rather not show pic's of targets it may scare the tender Dem's and will put us next in there sights.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2009, 12:41:00 AM »

Hmmm.

I know I've got a picture of a fence post somewhere ....

Double D · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2009, 04:03:35 AM »

Only one I have, hole in door of 64 Ford Falcon

Here is a slug before firing.

Here's a slug I recovered from the falcon.

One inch by the way.

Victor3 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2009, 04:14:47 AM »

That trumps my blown up can of kidney beans...

Victor3 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2009, 04:23:50 AM »

Quote from: gary michie on February 15, 2009, 08:33:54 PM

Hi
I'd rather not show pic's of targets it may scare the tender Dem's and will put us next in there sights.

I think YouTube has already taken care of that.

Double D · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2009, 05:16:00 AM »

Being I am elderly and us old folks always like to tell stories about the old days, there is a story that goes with that hole in the car door.

My friend's uncle was clearing some land with his bulldozer and pulled this old 64 Ford Falcon out of the bushes. We were up at his place on the Northern California coast hunting feral hogs. The real Northern California, not Monterey, way up Kings Ridge road past the Buddist Temple north of Cazadero. When we broke for lunch the uncle told us about the Falcon and suggested we shoot it. We set up the cannon loaded and fired. Big bang, cloud of smoke, loud bang as it was clear we had hit the Falcon, and the car rocked. We were all giggling and laughing like the best of all the idiots on You-tube when we heard a cracking sound. We looked up and saw an alder tree behind the car slowly topple over. It would have made 5 star You-tube material, but back then we were lucky to even have a 35mm camera. As I remember the tree was 4 to 6 inches. The slug knocked a large chunk out of it allowing the tree to topple.

We tried to hit the engine block with the gun. The slug in the pictures above was recovered from that shot. It penetrated the outter fender wall, inner fender wall and both walls of the car frame, but was less than finger width from the engine block. Boy did the car shake on that shot.

seacoastartillery · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2009, 12:42:32 PM »

Great story DD and nice pics too. Mike and I are going to work on a mold for the 1.067" bore Parrott Rifle soon. We are tired of standing in from of that lathe, turning all those 12L14 steel bullets! Rather be in the backyard in nice weather casting lead ones.

About the only effect on targets other than holes in paper, are the steel plates we have punched or tried to. We posted some of these pics about a year ago, but they are the best of the lot, so here goes. The cannon was a test barrel from experiments to see if the 1/6th scale 7" Treble-Banded Brooke Rifle's rifling was any good. It was on the second one. We used this 2nd proto to do the PROOF TEST of the tube and chamber design. We send a 9 oz. bolt made of S7 tool steel at 57 on the Rockwell "C" Scale with a 12L14 sabot to take the rifling into a 12" X 12" X 1" thick piece of Boiler Plate Steel. The target was two feet from the muzzle at about 2 feet below the soil surface.

More fun that water jugs and you get a souvenir too. Mike and Tracy

The cannon tube test rig with 9 oz. bolt and brass measure (1,555 grains BP), about 2.5 times the maximum scale service load of 648 gr.

The 40 lb. plate was pushed back when hit with about 22, 000 ft. lbs. of energy. We figure that bolt was going at least 1,600 fps.

You can see here that the bolt hit bent the whole plate a bit and penetrated about 80% of the 1" thickness. Also it pushed a plug of plate steel out the backside, shown here on the ground.

The ejected plug of plate steel and the destroyed front of the bolt. Maybe harden to 53 Rc next time?

The remains of the bolt fell out of the hole with most of the shards coming from the half on the left. You can see how it broke along a "Plane of Weakness" in which the anti-rotation pins (2), AND the sabot holding bolt lie. Good book if you like artillery testing stories.

Cat Whisperer · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2009, 01:19:03 PM »

I'm SURE that you were well shielded from the event, that really looks like one of those "don't try this at home" activities!

tapwater · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2009, 06:48:47 AM »

Some classic appliance abuse from half beer cans of cement.

Cannoneer · « **Reply #10 on:** February 17, 2009, 07:09:31 AM »

Welcome to the forum tapwater; that's an interesting tube and mount that you've got there. It came to me while looking at your pics, that a lot of our wives might really enjoy doing that to an electric dryer.

seacoastartillery · « **Reply #11 on:** February 17, 2009, 07:55:08 AM »

Tapwater, Welcome to the Mortar and Cannon Board. It certainly is an interesting cannon you have there, capable of good execution on the target. I think I see a screw jack there to effect elevation adjustment and also a pillow block (2) to hold the trunnions as a trunnion yoke and capsquare all in one. Very cool. What we are interested in is the construction of the breech area as to materials and method. We don't know much about welding and are always willing to learn. Love that elevation gear!! What a neat idea.

Regards,

Tracy and Mike

tapwater · « **Reply #12 on:** February 17, 2009, 08:14:11 AM »

Thank you for the welcome. I've been lurking for a while. Being on dial-up, things don't move very quickly for me. The tube started as a hot rolled shaft that my late brother in law bored for me about 25 years ago. This is the third mount it's been on. Yes, that's a scissors jack that elevates it. Farmer engineering at its best. It allows me to depress about 20 deg., and elevate to almost 90 deg.
We've taken down two concrete silos with cannon fire. That was before digital cameras, and I don't know where the prints are. Here's another view of my farmer special and our air cannon (bad pic). We've put bowling balls over 3,000 feet with 120 psi.

tapwater · « **Reply #13 on:** February 17, 2009, 08:27:20 AM »

I'm a bit slow to respond. Sorry 'bout that. The tube, being bored, has a solid breech. No breech plug. It had about 4" of solid steel, but I cut it down to about 2 1/2" to shave weight. The trunnion is one 1" shaft, welded to the rear of the breech. It's drilled and roll pinned to prevent side to side movement. Touch hole is for standard 1/8" fuse, though I'd like to get a lock for percussion caps or 209 primers. I've made a couple, but wasn't happy with them. As for the looks of my boomer, form follows function. It ain't pretty, but it makes everyone giggle like idiots when I fire it. That's what counts.

tapwater · « **Reply #14 on:** February 17, 2009, 10:56:36 AM »

I don't always have to resort to concrete projos. My sons are machinists. These are solid aluminum
shot. The grooves in the short ones will take an O-ring, if I want a really tight seal.

Blaster · « **Reply #15 on:** February 17, 2009, 11:06:07 AM »

tapwater, that cannon with the screw jack elevation system is really interesting. Looks like the carriage is all or almost all wood. Before I retired and when I still lived up in Naperville, IL, we used to go down to the Kankakee gun shows and apparently went close to your place. Do you know if they still have the gun shows at the fair grounds just South of Kankakee?? And, if they still have em, can you still buy black powder at that show?? Note you have stated that the screw jack cannon used half beer cans as projectiles. Any reason for not using beer cans FULL of concrete?? Also, do you mind telling just how many grains of BP you normally use for those half cans?? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for the great pictures.
Oops, forgot to mention that I have a brass slap hammer firing device on my Dahlgren cannon and one of my mortars. It utilizes musket caps on a musket nipple of course and I got those slap hammer's from Dixie Gun Works.
Blaster (Bob in Southern Colorado)

tapwater · « **Reply #16 on:** February 17, 2009, 02:29:11 PM »

Yes, the shows are still there at the Kankakee fairgrounds. I only go if I need reloading supplies. I haven't seen BP there in a couple years, but Pyrodex is usually priced fairly.
I do use full cans of concrete, but the recoil gets excessive on the carriage that I have now. The last carriage was destroyed by a full can and 4 oz. of ffg. The soft pine split and let the tube flying end over end. Not safe. Half cans with 4 oz. are fine and full cans with 2-3 oz. are OK. I like to use the steel cans that mushrooms or olives come packed in. Once filled with cement, I cut the flange off the can with an air cut-off tool.
The tube has been proofed to my satisfaction with a heavy projo and a very hefty load. No way do I trust a welded breech plug. My tube is one piece, bored.
Those slap hammers are all that I can find. I'd really like a spring cocked lock. I've made a couple, but they were ugly as sin. Guess I'll stay with fuse until I find something better.
If you went to Kankakee down I57, you were within 1 1/2 mile of me!

Victor3 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 18, 2009, 03:46:08 AM »

That'll keep the Maytag repairman busy.

Edit - Removed off-topic content.

Artilleryman · « **Reply #18 on:** February 18, 2009, 04:01:32 AM »

Results of a couple of rounds of 24 pounder howitzer cannister on attacking watermelon soldiers.

Double D · « **Reply #19 on:** February 18, 2009, 04:03:12 AM »

Shall I split this out and send it to the exotic weapons board or do you guys want move it yourself.

The punkin chunkin air cannons are an interesting topic and I think with time you could probably have a pretty active forum if you started one. Why don't you put up a poll in the poll section. Here's the link on how to do it. http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,91125.0.html

You only need some one to be a moderator and 12 yeses to get such a forum and you will get a yes from me. So you only need 11 more.

In the mean time bring this topic back to black powder mortars and cannons.

Cannoneer · « **Reply #20 on:** February 18, 2009, 05:21:36 AM »

Quote from: Artilleryman on February 18, 2009, 04:01:32 AM

Results of a couple of rounds of 24 pounder howitzer cannister on attacking watermelon soldiers.

Norm, if this thread were a contest for the best photo of targets, you'd get my vote; that's a fascinating picture, I don't know if you ever posted it before, but if you did I missed it. This photo just serves to increases my already huge respect for CW soldiers that many times were given orders to charge across an open field in the face of a weapon that they knew would cause this kind of damage. Not that it would matter in the pattern created by the cannister, but was it fired from an iron flank howitzer or a field howitzer?

Double D · « **Reply #21 on:** February 18, 2009, 05:40:49 AM »

I am going to make some sheet rock soldiers for you guys to shoot at at the Montana shoot

Artilleryman · « **Reply #22 on:** February 18, 2009, 05:46:13 AM »

BoomJ it was done with this original field howitzer.

This is what it can do with an inert shell.

Cannoneer · « **Reply #23 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:00:20 AM »

That's awesome!

Ex 49'er · « **Reply #24 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:05:38 AM »

You should enter the field howitzer picture in the calendar post. That's a beaut!!!!

Artilleryman · « **Reply #25 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:07:03 AM »

Quote from: Boom J on February 18, 2009, 06:00:20 AM

That's awesome!

Then you will like this. Bar shot fired from the 24 pdr. Not really field ammunition, but the pirates on this board may like this.

The inside of the van. If you look close you can see the bar shot and how it wrapped around alot of metal in the floor, and pushed it to the other side of the van.

tapwater · « **Reply #26 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:17:38 AM »

DD, my bad for going off topic. Thanks for the reminder.

Cannoneer · « **Reply #27 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:18:52 AM »

These must be the pics from the bar shot you were talking about on another recent thread. If it can cause that kind of damage to modern steel imagine what it must have done to the rigging of a wooden ship.

Artilleryman · « **Reply #28 on:** February 18, 2009, 07:12:52 AM »

In the other thread I was referring to 12pdr bar shot from an Iron Napoleon. This is 24 pdr bar shot fired with a reduced load since it was being fired from a howitzer. Both behaved in about the same way. I would imagine that a full service load from a gun would be even more destructive. The bar shot in the following photo would have knocked the wall over if it hadn't been braced so well on that side. Remember these are with reduced powder charges.

dan610324 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 18, 2009, 08:08:34 AM »

what was the approximate range to the target ??