Love that list, Victor, especially number 5. AND, with a photo like your Life Ring photo, how could we possibly forget 'SAFETY FIRST' !!!
A word about safety in firing cannons is in order here. We always build our cannons with a high degree of safety and we always try to shoot them that way too. From the series of pictures below, even if you are new to this hobby, you can easily see that a 1" Bore Dia. Cannon IS NO TOY!! The potential for destruction of intended and unintended targets is definitely there. Before you light a fuse or pull a lanyard, please, please check the area carefully behind your target. Nuff said.
On to the pics! These projectiles represent about 1/3 of our total collection. They are the best ones I found to illustrate certain points about shooting 1" bore cannons.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have about any of them. Just refer to the projo photo by number for those questions specifically about one particular solid shot or bolt. The description Key follows photo #10.
Six or seven of these have been shown before, but never, I believe, have we shown the base of each bolt before. There is one beauty that Lorenz has in his collection, a Brooke bolt, nicely rusted, that he found on the surface at 2,200 yards last year. I just rediscovered 3 that I lost track of for 5 years, one of which flew out to 3,250 yards, almost two miles!
Ask any question you might have. Yes, you can make these bolts on a mini-lathe, a 7 X 10, 12 or 14 works very well. We made the first 50 or 60 on a 7 X 12 mini.
Tracy and Mike
This photo was picked because the bolt with the curved rock gouge illustrates that the bolt was indeed spinning as it impacted the earth.
Key to 1 Projo Photos
1 31/32 Steel Ball Bearing
2 15/16 Steel Ball Bearing
3 .985 Dia. Lead ball mold
4 Made by Jeff Tanner jeff@ballmoulds.co.uk
5 6 oz. early exp. truncated cone bolt w/.014 thk. skirt which blew off
6 Early 6 oz. chill-nose Parrott bolt w/.020 thk. Skirt which stayed intact with 350 gr. BP
7 Exp. 1.067 dia. 5 oz. high vel. Tungsten core bolt which penetrated .712 deep in .750 in boiler plate 850 gr. BP
8 First 1.067 Dia. Parrott bolt
9 7 oz. Parrott bolt penetrated 22 hard prairie sod at 5 feet. 400gr. BP
10 7 oz. Parrott bolt fired with 300 gr. BP found at 1,250 yards on surface
11 7 oz. Parrott bolt fired with 400 gr. BP found at 3250 yards on surface. Scar on ogive proves rotation
12 Brass Sabot Parrott Display Bolt w/ large chill-nose
13 Brass Sabot Parrott Display Shell
14 Brass Sabot Parrott Disply Bolt w/ small dia. Chill-Nose
15 6 oz. Parrott, Gage Pin cored, penetrator bolt w/1/2 dia. Boiler plate punched plug .407 thk.
16 U-channel 4 oz. penetrator bolt without a hardened core piece
17 1.167 Dia. Brooke Brass Ratchet Sabot Display Bolt
18 First Milled Base Brooke Bolt found at 825 yards Richocheted 4 times
19 Attempted Ύ boiler plate penetration test w/ Parrott ½ dia. Hardened 0-1 steel penetrator core and 12L14 steel carrier which bamana peeled Penetration was almost 11/16.
20 S-7 steel penetrator with 3 pointed radius ogive hardened to 57 Rc on the C Scale. 12L14 sabot took rifling nicely with 1,550 gr. BP driving it. It penetrated 1 full Inch of Boiler Plate at 2.5 feet.