Cannon accident Saturday June 17 2010

[moose53]

Cannon accident in Oregon Saturday June 17 2010 , shooter killed  http://www.kval.com/news/local/98720049.html

[Cannoneer]

Once again it's a nasty business that one man is dead and another three injured while using black powder, but as usual it's going to take some more detailed information before it's really known whether the reporter of this article is using the word cannon accurately, or way too loosely.

[BoomLover]

 ..read the article, need more info, for sure...this was from a Eugene source, I'll look for a better source, closer to the area where it occured and try to send better info...BoomLover

[thelionspaw]

Aaaaah but was it even "black powder"?  This is hardly a story. It's a big-long headline. Who knows what the shmegegges were doing.  It reads like another, "Hold my beer and watch this".

[Double D]

Jul 19, 8:23 PM EDT

Ore. man dies after firing cannon that explodes

By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press Writer
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A 38-year-old man has died after he and several others fired a small cannon that exploded in the yard of a coastal home, the Lincoln County sheriff's office said.

Deputy Eric Gulbranson said Eric J. Rose, 38, of Keizer, and four other men were loading the black powder cannon when the explosion sent shrapnel through the air. A slice of metal knocked Rose unconscious, and he died late Saturday.

Three of the men suffered injuries in the blast. One was hospitalized with a leg laceration.

The sheriff's office said the cannon belonged to Christoper Dehnert, who owns the home in the community of Seal Rock. Dehnert, whose phone was busy Monday afternoon, reportedly told deputies the cannon had been used many times before at the rural property.

Sheriff's Lt. Dave Carey said the men fired the cannon for the sound, and it contained no projectile.

A photograph e-mailed by the sheriff's office showed little that remained of the cannon: wheels 6 to 8 inches in diameter and a metal handle used to push the device. The barrel itself, estimated to be about two inches in diameter and a couple feet long, was scattered across the property.

"When we say cannon, I think we all envision the Civil War and big, giant cannons," Carey said. "That's not the case here. This is fairly small."

No criminal charges have been filed. It is legal to fire a cannon, but criminal charges are possible once investigators determine what caused the mishap.

Deputies have contacted the district attorney's office, and a medical examiner plans to perform an autopsy.

"Until we can find out a little better about what happened, it's kind of hard to say whether anything's criminal or not," Carey said.

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[gulfcoastblackpowder]

There's a picture of the remnants on this article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2010/07/autopsy_planned_for_keizer_man_killed_in_seal_rock_cannon_blast.html

Very hard to see much of the barrel.  To me, it looks like it was probably just a piece of pipe, but it's hard to say for certain.  I'd also question what constitutes not being a projectile.  Some of the blank loads I've seen make projectiles out of newspaper or other items.

[Cannoneer]

Aaaaah but was it even "black powder"?  This is hardly a story. It's a big-long headline. Who knows what the shmegegges were doing.  It reads like another, "Hold my beer and watch this".

No question about it RC, it's possible that they were using smokeless, or powder meant for fireworks, but it may be more likely that the cops found a container, and gave the reporter the info about BP. You're absolutely right though, it's frustrating that in so many of these unfortunate incidents that this is the extent of the information we get, and then in many instances there's never any follow up article or newscast that gives a more detailed account of the cicumstances that were the actual cause of the mishap.
DD found a lengthier article with more information given, but we're basically still in the dark about the things that we as a group would be most interested in: Was the 'device' homemade, was it a manufactured decoration that should never have been fired, what materials were used in making it, was it grossly overloaded, was an inappropriate wad used that built up dangerous pressures, etc.?
It's also unfortunate that there are probably many people (unaware that the majority of folks involved in firing black powder artillery of all scales, are well informed, safety minded, considerate individuals) that show a pronounced inclination to lump us together with those uninformed individuals whose actions end up in news stories like this one. This is one of the comments from a reader of the piece that Gulfcoastblackpowder posted: "Now Obama is going to try and take our cannons away. If we're attacked by pirate ships what are we going to shoot them with?"
This one is from the article Moose53 opened this topic with: "There are reasons why black powder cannons are not in use anymore. These dudes just learned one of them."