I guess it's pretty clear the way you fellows feel about the long or short versions of the cheeks! Looks like we have some work to do. Actually, I bet on the good taste of this GBO group and began a new drawing this afternoon. It's finished now and matches our pole results. Thanks for all who participated. So, it's a bit more work for us. So what. It will be done right or we won't do it at all. Period. As for the folks who want us to maybe include little doo-dads here and there. Sorry, they just aren't in the budget. There is no law against personalizing your Krupp after you receive it, however, in fact that sort of thing is fun to do.
These are the only markings we will put on your Krupp. Location, then type of marking follows: Under the tube at bottom-dead-center, with steel letter stamps, USE BLACK POWDER ONLY. Left trunnion, KRUPP. Right Trunnion, 1866. Under the Breech, on the Base Plate, SEACOAST ARTILLERY COMPANY Second line, S/N 1, 2, 3............. That's it and that's all. Clear, concise and informative. The Safety and Operation's Manual included with each howitzer will detail all that we know about these seacoast guns.
We just received our .3125" gundrill today from Sterling. It's a beauty as all of their's are. Thank goodness it's only $75 and not the $250- $300 that we usually have to pay for the drills around 1". Mike made a bushing for the big mono-block, air and coolant delivery block that sits on the lathe's saddle. Neoprene O-Rings seal the drill shank bushing so it will not leak the water-sol coolant all over when the compressed air delivery system is turned on. Gary Lorenz, who has done more research on the optimum bore size than six other people we know, says that, in his expert opinion, a bore size of 5/16" is best for correct lighting of the fuse and longest flight. All we can tell you is that when we visited his cracker cannon test ground after work last night, they flew straight and far and popped between 40 and 60 feet away, except for a few that had really FAST fuses. Unfortunately, that optimum cracker bore size will not allow Crayola crayons to fit. We WILL accommodate anyone who wants us to open up the bore on their Krupp a little so it can shoot these wax seacoast artillery shells.
We made a few movies and hope to show a couple tomorrow evening. A still frame capture shot is shown below to give you the idea of what very serious ordnance testing looks like. Pay no attention to those beer cans. They are just targets of opportunity that we picked out of the trash. Yep, just targets, that's all, ahem.....
Tracy and Mike
It was so warm that we shed our ordnance lab coats, other than that, we were one serious research group. Busy, busy, work, work, bang, bang, biff, POW.................................BLAM!!! Gary has really nice neighbors, I mean Reeeeeeally nice folks!
