Got to work constructing the prototypes for the projectiles I'll be using. I've decided this shoot will be all canister and grapeshot...
On the left is the standard
canister load for the Napoleon, 27 balls. In this case they are
000 buckshot pellets of .350 caliber. I think I said elsewhere that they were .330, that was just my faulty memory.
Total actual weight of 27 randomly selected
000 buckshot pellets was 1636.7 grains.
On the right is a 9-ball
grapeshot load. I had planned to use 12, but in reality the .490 round balls weighed a little more than the weight given by the round ball caculator. Enough so that the weight exceeded my limit (the weight of a single 1.125 round lead ball) once the wooden base wad was added. Not by much, but better safe than sorry. Backing off to nine also put the weight fairly even with the canister load, so I should expect roughly the same POA and recoil level.
Besides, nine fitty-cal up all in yo grill gon' mess ya up some!Total actual weight of nine randomly selected .490 round lead balls was 1597.2 grains.
Loose, dry grits was used as a filler and the 'can' was made using the same mandrel and process as the tubes I use for my powder charges. Two layers of Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil. End folded and hammered tight.
Some of you may remember, I'd tried building canister using cut up soda cans. But that was a miserable failure and was terminated after just a couple of shots. The soda can aluminum was just too thick and stiff for this scale, and wouldn't break open properly. The fact that the filler was impregnated with wax didn't help matters either. They looked great, though, and the remaining three canisters will be used for display.
The aluminum foil isn't so pretty but should open up much easier.