Anyone made a 10 inch mortar lately?

[Double D]

Didn't  Paulsen's make several 13 inchers for the NPS.

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

I just checked out the video of the 8 inch field howitzer on their website.  That's impressive!

[entsminger]

  They are twin brothers, hence they each had to have one. You should visit their place sometime to see their cannon collection and assume shop. It is amazing. I also found it very depressing at the same time when I thought  about all the cannons they have ( at least 30) and I can't even afford one .
  I have found several train wheels at local junk yards but they were a huge type, much bigger I think than the original was and twice as heavy. I did see a small rail car for sale on e-bay In Iowa that was reasonable that would have been perfect but it was clear across the county and by the time I got it shipped here it would cost me a fortune. Just gotta keep looking.

  Scott

[entsminger]

  I think they made carriages for the National Park Service not the barrels?

 Scott

[entsminger]

   Wouldn't this be cool sitting in your front yard! The barrel is fiberglass but it's still (censored word) cool anyway! I think it's a 10 inch Rodman.

[entsminger]

  Here's the nose of the barrel. Part of it broke off but I saw it before and with out touching it it appeared to be the real thing !  I don't know if they still exist but this company made plastic replica's of cannon for display purposes. I think they wanted about $1000 to make me a 13 inch mortar so I opted for the better feel if steel.

[Zulu]

This full scale piece is poured concrete.   
Zulu

[Zulu]

This place makes fiberglass barrels.
Zulu

http://www.greatguns.org/

[entsminger]

  I met this fellow on the internet who said he made a 13 inch mortar out of poured concrete and had it on display somewhere and a truck ran into it and smashed it to pieces. He was big into making replica 13 inch mortar replica's and we talked at length via e-mail  about it and one day he dissapeared from the internet?? This picture looks just like the one situated at Petersburg where the Dictator is supposed to be?
  By the way, there a a great bunch of cannons and mortars to be seen at Ft. McNair ( tons of them) in Washington DC. they had at least three 13 inch mortar barrels and one of them was recently removed by the army to go to NY somewhere. The local Govt. historian that I personally know suspects that the one removed to be the original Dictator but the Army is not forthcoming in answering questions about it. When they pulled it up off the ground the Army would not let him look at the numbers on the barrel.

[irishman]

This full scale piece is poured concrete.   
Zulu

Zulu,

Do you have any idea of about much it would cost to build 10 of these in concrete for the National Park Service?           Michael

[entsminger]

Dulu, where is this poured concrete mortar??

  Scott

[Zulu]

This mortar is at St. Petersburg.
Here is the article about how it was made.  I have posted it before.
Irishman,
The cost would be great!  Then you have to be able to move it.  Read the article.
Zulu

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/pete/dictator.pdf

[entsminger]

  This is amazing! I never suspected that the 13 inch  mortar at Petersburg Va.  ( not St. Petersberg)  representing the dictator was a fake!! I had noticed that to top lifting ear was missing but I just assumed it had been broken off?  I've touched it many a time but never thought to put a magnet to it to see if it was iron ! I feel so dumb now!  This gives me even more reason to get that mortar that might be the original Dictator that went to NY back where it belongs!!! Thanks very much for posting this Zulu. Do you have any more information like this  ?

  Scott

[Zulu]

I am totally full of useless information!
Zulu

[entsminger]

  This is not useless information to me. Anything about making 13 inch mortars is very important to me whether they can shoot or not.

  Scott

[Cat Whisperer]

 This is amazing! I never suspected that the 13 inch  mortar at Petersburg Va.  ( not St. Petersberg)  representing the dictator was a fake!! I had noticed that to top lifting ear was missing but I just assumed it had been broken off?  I've touched it many a time but never thought to put a magnet to it to see if it was iron ! I feel so dumb now!  This gives me even more reason to get that mortar that might be the original Dictator that went to NY back where it belongs!!! Thanks very much for posting this Zulu. Do you have any more information like this  ?

  Scott

I thought that looked like the one in Petersburg (which there is identified as a replica); but of course the Russians had one first - so St. Pete isn't unbelieveable if you grew up in the '60's.

Serial #1 is in front of the capital building in Des Moines, Iowa.

[entsminger]

  I just conversed with the Paulson Brothers and they said they'd sell one of their 13 inch mortars for $75, 000. Let's see, I have 5 or 6 dollars in my pocket to start off the "Help Scott buy his 13 inch Mortar campaign" . Who's next, ha ha...

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

I was going to correct the St. Pete reference.  I live near St. Petersburg (Fl), and if that was anywhere near here, I'd know it.  I've never been to the sister city in Russia, though, so I can't tell you if they've got one.  My brother's been there, but he doesn't share my interest in things that go boom, so he wasn't really looking for one.

[Victor3]

Scott,
I wonder what they would charge to make one today? You'd have to get a custom trailer made to haul it around in.
You know something, that could be a good money maker; get the trailer all decked out with some fancy artwork, and go tooling around to all the state fairs across the country to demonstrate the mighty power of the "Magnificent and Awesome Dictator II".

 This might make more money. The smell of beef cooking draws more people than rotton eggs (black powder), and you still got 'smoke & fire' with it.

 No custom trailer required neither. 

[Cannoneer]

  I just conversed with the Paulson Brothers and they said they'd sell one of their 13 inch mortars for $75, 000.

That's all, heck, let me check my portfolio to see if I can swing this transaction.


Victor,
I may not be certain of many things, but I'm willing to bet almost anything that that grill does not belong to the current Attorney General of the U.S., Eric H. Holder, Jr.

[dan610324]

LETS HAVE A BBQ   

[entsminger]

  I'll bet you could fire 200 pound parrots out of that grill, ha ha.

 Scott

[Cat Whisperer]

I think that the grill would have serious problems with even a pound or two of Cannon or Fg.   

[dominick]

Here's a link to a company that according to their website has a Dictator in the works.  http://www.civilwarcannons.com/  

[entsminger]

Here's a link to a company that according to their website has a Dictator in the works.  http://www.civilwarcannons.com/ 

  I know of this guy and in fact he started this after I asked him if could could make me one. He said he was going to try and then eventually I think he got a propane tank just like mine to try and make one. I think he eventually found there was no market for them and quit the project?

[entsminger]

  So guys, help me out here. I bought some of the books you guys mentioned a while ago on making cannons but I still really  don't understand all the stuff about barrel thickness needed and so forth and so on. Knowing what you know now about making my replica mortar out of a propane tank what kind and how thick and so forth of a liner or barrel would I have to install on this to make it able to shoot a reasonably heavy ball. Someone mentioned I might be able to make it shoot a 13 inch aluminum ball with a pound of powder. Would that be the limit or could a thicker liner be had that would allow it to shoot something even heavier? What would you guys suggest, other than get lost, ha ha

  Scott

[GGaskill]

The question is what is going to satisfy you.  We can design something that will hoist 220 lb cast iron shot to 4500 yards using 20 lbs of Cannnon grade powder.  It will weigh on the order of 8 tons and cost about 8 tons also.

You have to give us the guidelines.

[RocklockI]

Scott hello and welcome to the forum .

Would this be your first gun ? I only ask because some of the questions you ask lead me to think you may not have too much experiance ?  If I am wrong ,I appologize !

Any mortar the size of what you are talking about is insane .

(this coming from a guy who wants to sail around the world)

If you have the coin just buy a herns 8" (bowling ball mortar) and be done with it ! stick it on a trailer like Tracy did with his big mortar .

Of course if you got the coin ,,,  the big one may be avaliable turnkey package deal .

bowling balls are cheaper by the doz  .

I have a mortar that shoots pool balls I know the owner of a poolbar and get wore out ones free . casting custom 10" balls is .......

the differance between the wow factor will be nonexistant ! Herns make a darn nice 8"er

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

YMMV Gary

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

I think that the grill would have serious problems with even a pound or two of Cannon or Fg.  

That's a smokeless powder design, so the problem would be the type of powder you're using.  I think using a pound of smokeless in that thing may create some odd hotspots on the grill, though.

I agree with Gary that the Hern barrel is a nice option for a large bore mortar, and the convenience of having a readily available relatively cheap ammunition for it really does make a big difference.  At the same time, you have to determine for yourself what will make you happy.

[Double D]

Scott hello and welcome to the forum .

Would this be your first gun ? I only ask because some of the questions you ask lead me to think you may not have too much experiance ?  If I am wrong ,I appologize !

Any mortar the size of what you are talking about is insane .
 
 

Actually Gary Scott has been around here a while and use to have a Dictator in his yard, sadly one spring it disappeared.