4th of July CANNONFIRE 2011

[seacoastartillery]

     We are providing this thread as a central depository for all of the still shots and movie clips the members may care to post of their Independence Day cannon firing experiences.  Share your pics with us!  Please, please, please lets have everyone complete with all their fingers, toes, eyes, etc. AFTER the 4th!!  Think SAFETY before you light the Fuse or pull the lanyard. 

     For the less experienced artillerymen among us, these are just a few of the things to avoid shooting from your cannon "For Extra FIRE and FURY":

                   1.  Gasoline..........one of the worst bore obstructions we can think of and can lead to your being hauled off in handcuffs!
                   2.  Multiple cannonballs........VERY BAD due to Increased Pressure;  this technique was used to destroy cannon in wartime!
                   3.  Wads........Other than rocks and gravel, wet newspaper is one of the worst and can increase Pressure enough to burst
                        your tube.  Fire hazard materials like dry paper, cardboard, etc.  If you must have a wad, an effective but safe one can
                        be made with grass clippings.
                   4. ANYTHING that can possibly wedge in the bore and resist movement, driving Pressure UP.

     This is just a partial list; you can certainly think of more than these few.  Your attitude about shooting on the 4th should be one of caution.  You cannot let yourself be persuaded to do unsafe things with your cannon.  Remember, it's the cannon's owner who gets sued when things go bad!!

     Have fun!  Everyone here already knows that man giggles result from just regular, normal pressure loads!!  There is NO REASON to push your luck!

     Mike and Tracy

[KABAR2]

Yes dry news paper is not a good thing..... during the run up to the Bi-centenial I was with a group
portraying military history we fired a Coehorn mortar wadded with news paper and lined up for
the demonstration one of the public said "Excuse me did you know the tree behind you is on fire"
we quickly put it out ... no harm done..... 3 ft on the other side of the tree was a house built in the
1600's I doubt we would have been welcomed back had that been burned down....
fresh slightly damp grass clippings are better.

I'll add another to not a good idea list.... Steel whool yes it look neat as it streaks through the
air at night but again a major fire starter.

[Cat Whisperer]

Hmmm.  I'm IN TOWN.

Have to see if Wmart has 15" beach balls for the 16" (OD) Gas Pipe Mortar.

[Triple D]

How about a slice or two of sandwich bread balled up to make a wad?

[dan610324]

whatever you use its most probably a bad idea
either because of fire
or because its mechanical dangerous

I have seen a wet newspaper wad go through both sides on a 55 gallon steel barrel from 10-15 feet away
so please forget all those ideas
its much better you make a real aluminum foil cartridge instead

[keith44]

cotton ball heavily greased with mild to moderatepowder charges? Done that for years.  Working in the aluminum manufacturing business has taught me too much about how aluminum "fines" are created, and how explosive they are even in small quantities.


added:

Oh and yes everything down range is thoroughly wetted with garden hose for 30 yards down range, in a wedge shape extending 50 feet atthe widest point.  All firing is done on either my 12 acres, or my brothers 14 acres.

[seacoastartillery]

Hmmm.  I'm IN TOWN.

Have to see if Wmart has 15" beach balls for the 16" (OD) Gas Pipe Mortar. 

     Whatever you guys do, Don't tell Cat Whisperer that his 15" beach ball can be filled with enough concrete, about 140 Lbs., to create a truly spectacular projectile.  He is too smart to fire it from a Gas Pipe Mortar or Cannon, of that we are sure.

Lets keep this info to ourselves:

1.  Cover the beach ball with 20 layers of paper mache; let dry.
2.  Cut 6" dia. hole in hardened paper mache sphere.
3.  Make box from scrap wood to hold supporting sand which surrounds ball.
4.  Pour fiberglass reinforced concrete into beach ball mold.
5.  Place bent rod lifting loop into filling hole.
6.  Let dry thoroughly.
7.  Strip Paper Mache off and paint.

Remember, Don't tell Tim that this is possible!  We are very afraid that his Gas Pipe Mortar might look like yesterday's banana peel at the Zoo's Ape House after firing this projo!!

Tracy & Mike

[dan610324]

I will not tell him

[brokenpole]

How about a slice or two of sandwich bread balled up to make a wad?

I have used that method the past couple of years.  I just make sure that I don't put to much bread and don't press it down too tight.

Feeds the birds...and squirrels

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

I regularly use cheap hot dog buns because they are just about the perfect size to fit the 1.5" avg bore size cannons we have (1/2 bun works well).

[dominick]

A local cannon guy here fired his soda howie with a bag of gasoline and it caused a violent fuel/air explosion.  I found out from he and his neighbor that it darn near blew the windows out of his house and his wife came out screamin at him. 

Scared the heck out him too.                                 

The wife, not the explosion...

[Cat Whisperer]

Hmmm.  I'm IN TOWN.

Have to see if Wmart has 15" beach balls for the 16" (OD) Gas Pipe Mortar. 

     Whatever you guys do, Don't tell Cat Whisperer that his 15" beach ball can be filled with enough concrete, about 140 Lbs., to create a truly spectacular projectile.  He is too smart to fire it from a Gas Pipe Mortar or Cannon, of that we are sure.

Lets keep this info to ourselves:

1.  Cover the beach ball with 20 layers of paper mache; let dry.
2.  Cut 6" dia. hole in hardened paper mache sphere.
3.  Make box from scrap wood to hold supporting sand which surrounds ball.
4.  Pour fiberglass reinforced concrete into beach ball mold.
5.  Place bent rod lifting loop into filling hole.
6.  Let dry thoroughly.
7.  Strip Paper Mache off and paint.

Remember, Don't tell Tim that this is possible!  We are very afraid that his Gas Pipe Mortar might look like yesterday's banana peel at the Zoo's Ape House after firing this projo!!

Tracy & Mike

GOOD thing that I can't read!   

[subdjoe]

A local cannon guy here fired his soda howie with a bag of gasoline and it caused a violent fuel/air explosion.  I found out from he and his neighbor that it darn near blew the windows out of his house and his wife came out screamin at him. 

Scared the heck out him too.                                 

The wife, not the explosion...

I would think that the exploding wife would indeed be a thing to inspire fear in even the stoutest of hearts.

[Cat Whisperer]

A local cannon guy here fired his soda howie with a bag of gasoline and it caused a violent fuel/air explosion.  I found out from he and his neighbor that it darn near blew the windows out of his house and his wife came out screamin at him. 

Scared the heck out him too.                                 

The wife, not the explosion...

I would think that the exploding wife would indeed be a thing to inspire fear in even the stoutest of hearts.

Absolutely!

The most fearsome thing on earth is a mad woman with a shotgun.
a) the shotgun isn't going to miss, and
b) you don't know if it's going to go off intentionally or unintentionally. 

[Rayfan87]

I just wish a friend had accepted an invite to a range day on another friend's parents property. He's getting home the 2nd, been in Germany the past week and Afghanistan for the past year.

[GGaskill]

Maybe he needs a little more time to decompress.

[Rayfan87]

He decided he's spent enough time around guys with guns for a while and wants to spend it with his fiancé.

[Double D]

How about a slice or two of sandwich bread balled up to make a wad?

No bread will often come out as a solid mass, and act like a solid cannon ball.  It will go far and break things.

[seacoastartillery]

     We know just about everyone is very busy on the 4th of July, so we won't jump on you if your pics or movies were taken recently or even a day or two after the 4th.  In fact we are setting ourselves up for catcalls and hoots and hollars by posting the video clip below, but, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

     That's right it's my idea, my preparation and ultimately, my failure to set two cannons off at the same time with a paper straw quill.  It was designed to be a 4th of July spectacular, but turned out to be a Dud after all.  I thought, what's wrong with those people in Athens, Georgia, I can set off two tubes simultaneously!  HA!!   It ain't so easy, after all.

     A carefully constructed, 14 segment, (16" ea.), quill was prepared and assembled on the High Plains Testing Ground by Mike, Gary and me.  The segments were joined by three wraps of 1/2" cellophane tape.  All segments were dry and undamaged at the time I fired this contraption.  It should have worked!!  Shoulda, woulda, coulda!  No, it failed, but may return, just as the mythical Phoenix rose from the ashes.
 
     People laugh at my little Smart car, so go ahead and laugh at my movie.  Go ahead; it's O.k.  I'm having some bumper stickers made up soon which read:   You Laughed When I Bought this Car!   Gas was $1.70 per Gallon.   Are You Laughing Now?    Are You?    Are you Laughing Now?

Gary and Mike get credit for helping perform this experiment.  Thanks fellas.  Just remember that Edison failed many times in developing his incandescent light bulb.  In shined brightly for over 131 years until 2011 when scum-bag, lefty politicians killed it!

Tracy & Mike

Neither mortar went off, but I believe we learned from this experience.  We need more tape on the joints to resist the pressure of all that fine powder combusting quickly.   Click on the image to play the Clip.

[subdjoe]

Um........it looks like about 10 seconds after that failure to fire one gentleman was standing over and looking into the bore of one of those? And no one yelled at him!

Shame you can't use friction primers on those.  One handle, two lanyards.  One pull, two booms.

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

I think the failure to fire was due to your piecewise fuse.  Try using a single length or two equal lengths being ignited at the same time, and I think you'll have success.  Also, if you'd have used masking tape, I think you may have had more success.  Masking tape won't deteriorate the same way as cellophane, and it can catch fire, and possibly form a bridge to the other piece of quill, if for some reason direct transmission of the flame doesn't occur.

[Double D]

I am working on a scale Congreve rocket launcher

[GGaskill]

Where was your electric start propane torch when you needed it?

[keith44]

I am working on a scale Congreve rocket launcher

Scaled to launch bottlerockets, or model rockets (A, B, C...size engines)? or are you cooking something totally different?

[Double D]

Bottle rockets?  Nothing that small.

[seacoastartillery]

Where was your electric start propane torch when you needed it? 

    George,   Several rope burners are kept in reserve for those occasions when we run out of propane bottles.  Mike has been doing some heat treating of small parts for the Brooke rifle lately and had used up all our propane.  Fortunately for us the wind cooperated that day.  Incidentally, we used miniscule, Blank charges of 26 grains of FFFg in each mortar, because we weren't sure how dry the prairie grass was that day.  I just wanted a little 'puff' of white smoke to show that they had ignited.  We Always have water on hand for quick fire suppression.

     Talk about fire starters,  a special Thank You Sir to KABAR2 for mentioning that Steel Wool is particularly bad and is in the category of 'Pyrotechnic Supplies' that we Do Not Use or discuss further on this board.  Burning at temps in excess of 1,500 Deg. F., steel wool will instantly ignite dry grass or leaves!  Avoid it and also Diesel fuel soaked rags for more "Fire and Fury".  If you ignite your neighbor's house, you might get more 'Fury' than you expected!!

Mike and Tracy

[KABAR2]

M&T,

Too many times have I seen the mentioned item set things on fire .... (NOT BY ME)

A tent at a state fare.... put out quickly small hole burned through.....
A police car which had an open window ... stuff landed on seat stared to melt seat and smoke.....
used by mistake at a WWI re-enactment.... he had these for night firing over water....
mixed em up with regular blank loads... started field on fire near historic Civil War house....
we stomped out the fire..... burned an area of aprox 50'x50' before it was under control...
the American artillery set field on fire the next day..... they called fire dept.

[RocklockI]

     Well, Mike and I made it to Gary's house about 30 min. ago and the cannons are lined up.  We have the last of Dom's large scale Dahlgren Guns, Seacoast's Mallets Mortar Jr., A Krupp Howitzer, and four or five of Gary's beautiful bronze cannon and mortars.  Almost forgot there's another Dominick made cannon too.  Can't forget his French 75 in 1/5 scale.  Rockets too for after dark.  Pics will be shown tomorrow; we are going to stay as long as it takes tonight to establish noise dominance on Gary's street!

Tracy and Mike

[keith44]

 

Wish I was there!! Give em what for!!

[RocklockI]

      I just got the eye from Gary's wife so maybe 180 grains in the 1" Dahlgren was a bit much!  I am pulling apart old 100 pdr. cartridges and Brooke test cartridges we made up a year ago and didn't get a chance to shoot.  I'm trying to be carefull and pull them in half and dump a little out, but it's hard work with the cloud cover and all.  I will dump a bit more on the ground next time out of respect for the hosts of this fine event. 

Tracy