What did I buy?

[Victor3]

 Is it a Hern?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220578852910&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

[ajtcpa]

Looks like a Gray-Star barrel to me.  Check their web site for more information.  Something like www.graystartechnologies.com (not exactly sure).  Try Google.

[KABAR2]

It's hard to say, it could be a Greystar barrel.....

it fits their description

http://greystarcannontech.homestead.com/star.html

http://www.hernironworks.com/cannons.html

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

Doesn't fit with anything in the Hern catalog, but I agree that it could be a greystar.

[rusty barrels]

Definantly not a Hern, their smallest 6 pounder is a 2/3 scale at 250lbs.

[Cannoneer]

All right, Victor! What kind of 'stock' are you planning on bedding the barrel in?

[Victor3]

 I thought it might be a discontinued small Hern/SBR due to the cast-in liner but you guys are right, looks like the description fits the Greystar. They say they use cast steel, not iron Anybody have one of their barrels or heard anything about them?

 Boom J - I dunno. It was an impulse buy and I haven't thought about what kind of mount yet. I've been looking for some kind of cast barrel since all mine are machined. I really wanted a bronze one of some sort, but quality ones in larger sizes I've seen have all been out of my price range.

[Double D]

Plenty on th eboard about Grey-Star, Graystar and Gray-star.  Do a search.

[rifleshooter2]

Is it a Hern?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220578852910&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I'm pretty sure thats a greystar I have one. It makes a nice little swivel gun.

[Cannoneer]

Victor,
Mind you, this opinion was formed from just looking at the profiles of the Hern & Gray-Star barrels, but your tube seems like its a better match with the 1:3 Gray-Star M1841 6-pounder's profile (specifically, the large round cascabel).


Yeah, the prices being asked for larger bronze guns are way out there. I came across a website that's offering a scale cast bronze naval gun that's a reproduction of a cannon recovered from the Atocha wreck. The barrel is 24'' long, with a 1.5" bore, and the tube weighs 54.4 lbs.; it comes with a naval carriage made of African Sapele wood. This can be yours for only $3495.00. Atocha Gun

[GGaskill]

Having made cast bronze tubes myself and having gone through the exercise of computing a price should I wish to actually sell them, I must say that the $3500 price for that gun is not all that out of line.  Unless you want to work for substandard wages or no profit, the selling price has to be in that ball park.

[Cannoneer]

George,
That may well be, but no matter how I look at it, right now that price is still a little steep for me.

There is a foundry in Ohio owned by a father and son team that is selling tubes (Napoleons, M1841 6-pounders, etc.) this approx. size for something over a grand, and the son has told me that the major cost transfer to the buyer is from the making of the patterns and the cost of the bronze itself. This foundry is making sand cast barrels using silicon bronze. I would imagine that the fashioning of the dolphins and cypher on the pattern would boost the price on this specific barrel.

[dan610324]

most of the people who actually make bronze barrels in a sub scale with dolphins and other decorations on them have an tremendous amount of hours in it long before its time to start casting the barrels
you could actually have several hundred hours invested in a master and mold even before you have your first wax positive cast

so when you want to get some kind of salary for your work people start thinking it is expensive
and that reduce the number of possible manufactured barrels and that rise the price further as the cost must be split to a lesser number of actually manufactured barrels

I think that cannon for 3500 is a very good prize for a cannon in that size
ok it aint cheap , but if you want an hand made high quality barrel cast with an known alloy of suitable quality it will cost money

to buy a sand cast bronze barrel with dolphins and decorations , well I wouldnt do it .
you cant do almost any surface cleaning and polishing in a lathe but it must all be done by hand
I wouldnt even think about it even if the cast barrel is cheap
the detail quality will and can  NEVER  even come close to a lost wax casting

most often you get what you pay for
Im sure that George can tell how much work it is just to clean the area between the trunnions on a sand cast mountin howitzer

bronze barrels is expensive and have always been , as an example I can tell that the bronze barrels to the swedish warship Vasa actually did cost more then the rest of the ship .
a full documentation on the cost to build that ship is saved .

[dan610324]

just got to add this little comment also
there was so many questionmarks when I looked at the picture so I checked the link also

first it got center mounted trunnions ( Atocha sunk 1622 )
the muzzle profile isnt late 1500 or early 1600 style
the carriage design is wrong for the time period

but when I read on the website about the "Atocha" cannon they say that this cannon is similar in shape to an atocha cannon 
ok its a nice cannon and carriage , but I dont think it actually have any similarities with any of the barrels that was recovered from Atocha
at least not more than that it is a tubular shaped bronze piece with one end plugged

[RocklockI]

Dan do you have a picture of that short barrelled gun with the French lillies up and down the tube it was from the Vassa , maybe from the Sun sorry I dont remember the Sweedish name Solin? 600 pounds of powder put her down iirc ?

Gary

it was a pretty one .

[dan610324]

sorry Gary , no picture of that barrel
it wasnt from vasa
vasa was probably the first ship in the world that was equiped with identical new guns
all other had a mix of what the country had , most often a hughe variation of both calibers , manufacturing year and country of origin

[Cannoneer]

Dan,
There's no question that this barrel is meant to resemble a naval gun type that will seem familiar to most people who are not really artillery buffs, but who would still like to have something that is purported to be based on a piece from the famous Atocha. This barrel type would actually be from an era that was over a hundred and fifty years later than the time of the Atocha's launching.
There must be more on the www, but this is the only photo I could find of one of the Atocha's recovered bronze guns. Spanish Cannon

[dan610324]

yes you are correct in that
its still a very very beautiful barrel
and the price is also good for a complete cannon with carriage in that size

[Victor3]

I'm pretty sure thats a greystar I have one. It makes a nice little swivel gun.

 Neat. I don't have a swivel yet

[Cannoneer]

Victor,
It just so happens that I'm now in the process of rereading William Gilkerson's "Boarders Away II," which is (as Cannonmn often said) the difinitve source on swivels yet written. There are some fine drawings and photos of graceful looking attached (tillers not integrally cast with the barrel) tillers, that were used on swivel barrels from the period when the tubes were basically just smaller versions of their larger cousins, the deck guns. If you're really considering a swivel gun, this would be a great place to get some ideas.

[Victor3]

I think that cannon for 3500 is a very good prize for a cannon in that size
ok it aint cheap , but if you want an hand made high quality barrel cast with an known alloy of suitable quality it will cost money

 That's my main concern. I passed on a beautiful looking 32" long unbored cast bronze barrel on ebay a while back. It ended up selling for ~$350, but I had no way of knowing if it was full of porosity, was actually brass instead of bronze, who made it or anything else about it except what I saw in the pictures.

 Oh well, still got my mug to admire until I can find a bronze cannon at a garage sale. I think it only cost me 40 bucks! 

[RocklockI]

Thats a nice one V3 !