Postal Shoot?

[Cat Whisperer]

I'm not suggesting you shoot the postal at your shoot--unless you want---just targets will available at the shoot.

I think it would be a great opportunity for folks to experience!  

 Besides, Barak may not have the ability to shoot a small cannon in the back yard of the White House!   

[RocklockI]

Yesterday I had the first good oppertunity to shoot my postal match gun .

Doug B4 I say anything about the accuracy , I would like to verify just what the range is supposed to be

Tracy insisted on 25 yds . .......

I found that 25 grains 3F is about the right charge ,nice recoil ,nice report . The ball was slow enough you could hear the ball hit the target .

You guys though this target was big ? It could use another foot and a half or so in my opinion . 

[Cannoneer]

22 yards, Gary.

[seacoastartillery]

     I have been thinking about bronze boy's less than stellar results on the postal target yesterday, and I believe the answer lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to effect good SAMCC style sighting with all those acanthus leaves, dingle balls, fish handles, etc. on the gun.  If he would only build nice, Civil War (American) guns with clean, unadorned, tubes, then he would have no trouble sighting his cannon.   Of course that would also take hundreds off the price, so that's probably not going to happen!

     Anybody know what approx. velocity his 50 cal. ball was going to make a loud, slapping sound on the cardboard backing of the target?  I've heard that sound before when a friend hit a nearby target with his .455 British bulldog revolver with 2.5 inch barrel.  He claimed 650 f.p.s., so maybe Gary's cannon ball is going 500 to 800 f.p.s.  GGaskill, any idea?


Tracy and Mike

P.S.  22 yards and this is why:
   
   
Re: Postal Shoot?
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2010, 11:23:42 PM »
   
If we do this I'll furnish the targets, since it's not real easy to find B17's.

Something else I just remembered The Cannon club doesn't shoot at 25 yards, they shot in front of the 25 meter bench.

Looks like 9-10 feet in front.  so we shoot from 22 yards. Smiley

Anybody interested?
   Report to moderator   Logged
Douglas
www.GBOCannons.com

[Double D]

If he hit the target at 25 yards he did great. 

I see nothing but advantage with all the fru-fru's on his guns.  Top Dragons head centered and level with the top of the Dolphins.   Hum heard something similar to this somewhere.

[RocklockI]

So if I did great hitting the target at 25 yds ? Is 22 yds much easier ?

I was sighting from the vent tray across the muzzle swell . Its about 5 feet high at 25 yds . I forgot to make a sighting disk !

This will be interesting . This gun is 1/4 scale 25 yds would be 1/4 of 100 yds .

I had all day to aim with a little wind .  It was hard to light the fuse , but I wasnt pitching and rolling and the target repaid the favor ,he wasnt either  

I think you may have made more money recovering lost cannon balls from the ocean floor and reselling them , then as some scaleywag under sail .

The quill makers and powder guys back on shore yep they proly made more too .

I know why in those old prints of the Alabama nailing some other ship and then the engraving ships firing the shot that blew off the Alabama's stern everybody onboard is yelling and cheering !

Nobody can believe they hit anything ! I'm sure if the rousing cheer would have been recorded for posterity by both the crew who shot the gun and the crew got the shot .

It would have been " HOLY SHINGLES ,WE HIT SOMETHING"   and "HOLY SHINGLES ,WE GOT HIT !"

Then hopfully you'd scrurry over and rescue the poor unfortunate victims of a stray shot .

Gary ....it aint easy

[dan610324]

Im happy as long as Im not the target

how about the range on that .50 cal ??
lets hope it cant reach sweden , maybe the ball will drop down in london   
thomas prepare for incoming 

[Double D]

Any body try this yet, even in practice?

[Ex 49'er]

Any body try this yet, even in practice?

I think I dreamed about it last night. Came in last.   

[dan610324]

NOOO   that would be my place
as we aint aloved to shot any projectile here in sweden
so with only blanks fired I would guess that I wouldnt get many points 

[Cat Whisperer]

NOOO   that would be my place
as we aint aloved to shot any projectile here in sweden
so with only blanks fired I would guess that I wouldnt get many points 

How about a Swedish meatball?   

[dan610324]

well its still in the category of  "any projectile"
and I must confess that I prefer to eat them with a cream sauce and potatoes 
thats still legal in this country

[Terry C.]

I may have to bow out of the Postal Shoot. Days are passing quickly and the only things I had done before going into the hospital was draw up the plans (for the tube, the carriage plans are still unfinished), locate the stock, and purchase the drill and reamer for the bore. The drill (31/64) and reamer (.5000) arrived at the shop about two days before I got sick.

I still have no clue as to when or even if I'll be able to machine the tube. I'm still under strict doctor's orders to stay OUT of the shop, or any other dusty or smoky environment. I learned a hard lesson yesterday (got cocky, overworked myself, lost my breath and almost passed out), I've got to stay within my limitations and listen to the doctors or I'll end up back on the oxygen tank.

I have the targets, so I'll shoot if I can. If not, maybe next time.

[Double D]

Terry,

If you can't work in the shop, you can't bow either-so Doctor DD says it's not healthy for you to be bowing out!!!.  Hang onto the targets, get well and send them in for the second annual postal shoot!

[NVWalt]

Thought I would try to bring this back to the top with this post.
 Got a mould for my two .50 cal cannons the other week and finally cast up some projectiles and finally had a decent day to go out to my range and shoot them.
 Made up a handful of 8 inch black bullseyes to see what the little naval and field pieces could do. At 25 yards I found it interesting that they both grouped? about 6 inches,and not on the target but to the side of it. I wasn't real impressed but did finally enjoy getting out and try to figure out how to point them at least in the general direction of the target stand. The naval gun fired and immediately went flying backwords off the bench. I was glad it is a solid steel carriage. The field gun was easier to aim and shoot and its carriage being machined steel and heavy at least didn't go flying off the bench. Found a 44mag case of FF at about 38 grains wasn't a bad load for them and sent the patched .490 ball down range with a delightful pall of smoke to admire upon lighting them up.
 This wasn't as easy as I thought it might be as far as consitant aiming goes and can see just a few more practice targets are in order. I didn't want to even attempt my "Official" targets til I at least can learn to keep all six shots in the black circle anyways.
 I will take my chronograph out and run both guns through them out of curiosity to see what they do when I get a decent day again. That's if I don't wreck my chronograph and will tell ya what I get as results.
 So far though it has been a hoot to really try and shoot them kinda half ###ed seriuosly and see what I can do. I have fround a new respect for those SAMCC guys and Double D's ability to actually fire them for a score and get a score.
 Hope there is a decent turn out for this postal shoot and that whatever the score may be we all have a great time with our miniature cannons.. Good shooting to all....Walt

[Double D]

I'm pretty sure I posted a link to the aiming post in this thread, but I will post it again.  Aiming a Cannon without sights, South African style

Making tentative plans for next years Montana- Cut Bank Model Cannon Convention.   Saturday will be open shooting.  The range will be open for practice shooting.

Sunday will be some structured events.  One will be a SAMCC shoot. If you want to learn how to aim these little cannons you plan on coming to this shoot.

[Double D]

Just make sure everyone understands the scoring, what score would you give this target.

[Cat Whisperer]

How big were the bullets?

[dan610324]

its difficult to tell from a photo , but with all 6 counted it would be 44
with only the 5 best it would be 40

[Double D]

.50 cal.

[RocklockI]

Jezz thats pretty good shootin . I'd score it an 8.3 ........  

[oyvind]

You have 47 points with 6 shots

Oyvind

[dan610324]

the 3 a'clock 9 and the 2 a'clock 8 maybe have cut the lines to a higher score , its impossible to tell from this photo .
most probably you will need a .5 bullet to put in the hole to see it even if you have the target to check on
so it maybe is 46 if you count all 6 hits , but 47 ??  noooo dont think so

sorry but I dont remember the rules for the postal match , but here in sweden all bp shooting only count the 5 best shots in a 6 shot serie

so I still say 40 , but after checking carefully with the target in my hands it could be 42
but its impossible to tell from the photo

its still a very good result from a cannon without aiming devices

[Cat Whisperer]

.50 cal.

OK.
When I get back from work I can scale a .50 cal ball to a circle that can be applied to the target.
The question is, does the .50 cal hole TOUCH the line.
Not easy to gauge the close one's without something to put onto it to see.

Some shooters will use a piece of plexiglass (or lexan) with a circle on it to use as a see-through gauge to score the targets.

In SOME blackpowder matches the large-bore matches adjust the rules so that the center of the bullet must just touch the line -  ...

[Double D]

Okay the point I wanted to make is score the best 5.

Touch the line scores!



Scoring disks not needed among Cannon shooting Gentlemen.

[1Southpaw]

DD's Trip up yesterday was a learning experience for me . Hopefully I can emulate his success  
I posted 2 pictures I took yesterday under the SAMCC thread.

[mangobob]

I really want to shoot this match, but I don't know if my cannon qualifies.  I built it 48 years ago on a borrowed lathe and really didn't know what I was doing, but it turned out pretty good.  I made a shipboard carriage for it.  At that time, my woodworking skills weren't that great and they haven't improved much since.  Will this type of cannon qualify or does it have to look like some of the really nice cannons I have seen in the pictures?  It is a 50 Cal. and I remember after making it, I shot it across an old clay pit at about 150 yards and almost hit what I was aiming at.  If you think I might be able to use this in the shoot, I will post the picture.

Mango Bob

[Cat Whisperer]

Mango Bob --

WELCOME to the board.

You cannon sounds like it's OK for the postal (.50 cal).

Post the pix!

[Double D]

Complete rules, what there is of them and how to enter can be found in his post. 
1st Annual GBO Miniature Cannon Club Postal Shoot.

Like CW says sounds like your cannon qualifies and pictures are always appreciated.

[mangobob]

Thanks for the quick answer.  I'm going to try to post some pix...not sure if I know how.

Mango Bob