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Author Topic: Finding the shot  (Read 745 times)

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Offline TonyK

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Finding the shot
« on: June 10, 2011, 05:33:01 AM »
I have been shooting billiard balls out of my cannon this spring.  I have put about 1 dozen rounds towards where I thought would be a pretty easy target area to locate them afterwards.  To date I have been able to find 0 of them.  I can see the path through the hay leading up to the woodline and the hits to the trees but not so much as a flake off of the ball itself.  I'm not looking to refire them but I really just want to see what they look like afterwards.  I am going to bring my gun over to a neighbors property.  He has an old step van that is big enough for me not to miss so perhaps I will have to wait until then.
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Offline Cat Whisperer

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2011, 06:03:47 AM »
Finding anything shot from a cannon is a lot tougher than finding anything shot from a mortar!

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Offline little seacoast

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2011, 06:05:39 AM »
If you didn't hit something really solid, they'll be a little faded and soot stained on one side but otherwise intact. I've got some that have been fired half a dozen times without ill effect.  Hit something like a big rock and kiss them goodbye.  For some reason the ringed balls seem easier for me to spot on the ground.
PS love your avatar, a Dom Parrott?
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Offline Double D

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2011, 06:08:52 AM »
It sound like to me that you need a better back stop. 

One of the basic tenets of safe shooting is know your  back stop.   Key word stop. If you are only seeing hits on trees and skips on the ground you haven't found the back stop yet.  You must know where these ball are going and where they are stopping or you are not shooting safely. 

Visit some of the several post on this subject  by Seacoast Artillery on this subject for how far these thing can travel. They shoot on the wide open  prairie and can see for miles and have found projectile a long ways from where they were shooting.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, nag, nag, nag....but its about safety and any cannon accident gives us all a black eye, so the nag will continue.

 

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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2011, 06:17:44 AM »
Totally understood on the backstop.  I assure you I am in no danger of putting a shot anywhere near another person or their property.  I am firing into a wooded bowl with the nearest neighbor being more than 1 mile away and behind a large tall hill.  I appriciate the concern and the warning.  Being new at this I am always willing to learn from the older hands.
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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2011, 07:34:06 AM »
Not a Dom Parrott. A 2.25 Napoleon. A birthday present from my wife last year.  She thought I needed one to keep elephants from gathering up in the field.  To date it has worked.  ;D
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Offline dominick

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2011, 07:40:31 AM »
TonyK,  Those wheels are interesting.  Are they one piece cut from a thick sheet of laminated plywood sheets?
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Offline Rayfan87

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2011, 07:43:12 AM »
How accurate is your gun? If you can get one, might try one of those large round bales of straw.
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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2011, 07:52:43 AM »
Yes they were routed out of plywood.  The wheels are not my favorite part of the carriage and I have been looking for a set of better looking ones.  I just havn't gotten around to buying them yet. 
Round bales are easy to come by here in farm country.  I have half a dozen sitting on the edge of my field.  I have thought about shooting at them but haven't yet done it.
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Offline gunsonwheels

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2011, 10:30:23 AM »
I don't know what's cooler... the looks of the cannon or the wife who gives such gifts...  ;D  Mine gave me a .41 magnum for a wedding present (43 years ago next month)  ;D  ;D

DD
Quote
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, nag, nag, nag....but its about safety and any cannon accident gives us all a black eye, so the nag will continue.

... and as another old sihlouette shooter we also know the burm is critical to knowing your shot placement as well as projectile retrieval.  I want to haul in sand to put against the bluff in the back before using it for cannon.  Being able to catch the proj. so you can see various and assorted witness marks can aid in controlling variables to accuracy and that bluff would in its current state just bounce stuff up and over the top of it.  Several reasons for burming and all of them good... I think. 
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Offline RocklockI

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2011, 12:22:00 PM »
TonyK , I didnt see any sights on your tube ...? Are you using sabots how much windage is there ?

Gary
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Offline subdjoe

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2011, 01:06:03 PM »
Quote from: TonyK on June 10, 2011, 06:17:44 AM
Totally understood on the backstop.  I assure you I am in no danger of putting a shot anywhere near another person or their property.  I am firing into a wooded bowl with the nearest neighbor being more than 1 mile away and behind a large tall hill.  I appriciate the concern and the warning.  Being new at this I am always willing to learn from the older hands.

A mile, even over a hill, is well within range.  I'm not quite clear if you are in the bottom of the bowl and shooting across it or on the rim shooting downwards into the bottom.  From the description in your original post, it sounds as if your shot can bounce and skip.  It isn't impossible for it to skip up and over that hill.  Be very, very, VERY careful.

If you are shooting into a wooded area, the shot may be buried into a tree.  I've seen 3" lead ball go into oaks and it can be hard to tell that it went in.  Some looked like it was just bark chipped off.  But then looking at the back side of the tree you see the hole. 
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Offline Cat Whisperer

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2011, 01:59:09 PM »
Quote from: Double D on June 10, 2011, 06:08:52 AM

...
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, nag, nag, nag....but its about safety and any cannon accident gives us all a black eye, so the nag will continue.

Drive on!  Contiune to march!
There are always excuses.  Keeping safety at the forefront is OK!
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Tim K                 www.GBOCANNONS.COM
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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #13 on: June 10, 2011, 02:17:21 PM »
This is my house and my property.
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Offline Cat Whisperer

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #14 on: June 10, 2011, 02:27:52 PM »
Tony --

You've got a grip on it!

But of course someone next year may find a deer with a que ball firmly embedded, but that's his problem.   ;D
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Tim K                 www.GBOCANNONS.COM
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Offline dominick

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #15 on: June 10, 2011, 02:28:17 PM »
Tony,  Don't get me wrong, I'm not picking on your wheels.  Your wheels are a good low cost alternative.  Large scale cannon wheels are not cheap so I'm always looking for ideas.
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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #16 on: June 10, 2011, 02:34:11 PM »
Quote from: dominick on June 10, 2011, 02:28:17 PM
Tony,  Don't get me wrong, I'm not picking on your wheels.  Your wheels are a good low cost alternative.  Large scale cannon wheels are not cheap so I'm always looking for ideas.

No insult taken at all.  They are functional which is why the are still on it but they aren't very pretty so I want to change them out.
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Offline RocklockI

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2011, 02:41:33 PM »
Yea , I just want to know more about your cannon . ;) .

The designated nagger does his job well , plus he just plain likes it . ;D  DD just dosn't want anyone to blow them selfs up .

I have a friend that is building a billiard ball 1841 . I can't wait to see it go off . 8)

The wheels look fine to me .

Gary



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Offline Double D

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #18 on: June 10, 2011, 06:47:16 PM »
There is no rationalization that makes shooting into a tree line safe.

 If you can't see here your projectile comes to rest there is no way you can know your shot is safe.
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Offline subdjoe

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2011, 09:15:52 PM »
Quote from: TonyK on June 10, 2011, 02:17:21 PM
This is my house and my property.

From that it seems clear for roughly 600 yards or so from the end of the line you drew showing your 150 yard range.  From the end of that line, go 45o each side and project 1500 yards on each of those lines and connect with an arc.  That zone is the minimum area that I would consider a danger zone based on what you have shown us.

At one shoot I saw a bolt hit at the base of a hill about 750 to 800 yards down range.  It then impacted near the top of the very tall hill (about another 600 feet above the level at which we were shooting), and given the slope and lateral movement that was another 700 to 800 yards it traveled to that impact point.  Then we heard for at least 5 seconds as it it as it skipped again and continued down range.  The rancher assured us that there was nothing but open land for several miles down range, and checking it on google maps confirmed that.   Don't underestimate how far your projectile can travel. 

I'm not trying to beat you up, really.  But you MUST be sure of where your shot will go.  Looking at how heavily wooded that area is, my guess would be that your shot will usually stop somewhere in those woods.  But that is a very wild ass guess. 
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Your ob't & etc,
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Offline Parrott-Cannon

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #20 on: June 11, 2011, 04:40:38 AM »
Who made your cannon?
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Offline TonyK

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Re: Finding the shot
« Reply #21 on: June 11, 2011, 05:58:25 AM »
Quote from: Parrott-Cannon on June 11, 2011, 04:40:38 AM
Who made your cannon?

I was told by the previous owner that it was cast for him by Hern but I have no way to confirm that.
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