Pounding that powder!

[Cannoneer]

We've seen this same practice performed before on some (usually) European YT vids, but this one comes from South America. Maybe it's like a domino effect, where someone that views the same procedure being carried out by a well-dressed reenactment group, then reaches the conclusion that compressing the charge to this extent is a necessary operation. I've also considered the possibility that it may have originated from somebody who read a "gunpowder" tract dating from the middle ages, when the operation of early weak black powder benefited from the tightest compression achievable, and then because of an ignorance of the properties of modern black powder, thought that this kind of tight compression was still needed in order to reach respectable pressure levels upon combustion.

[BoomLover]

That seemed a bit in excess... ...Boomlover

[no guns here]

I counted 40 strokes on the third wad and AFTER he moved closer to the muzzle and reached what appeared to be full compression (based on the relationship of the end of the tampion to his right shoulder area).  That seems like he may have been enjoying it a bit much...
 
NGH

[dominick]

I can't imagine that in the height of a battle someone doing this.  Probably a quick shove to the breech with the charge and ball and clear to fire.
 
Maybe this is a new guy and the crew is playing a joke on him. 
   "You got to pound that charge in about 40 times"   

[Cat Whisperer]

Looks to me that if the things they were stuffing into  the bore could have been SMALLER than bore diameter rather than LARGER and it would have been easier.

[Victor3]

 Pounding aside, lookie where he was standing while doing it. Coulda blown his hat off or something if the thing went bang before he was done. 

[exlimey]

Yeh Victor "or some thing" would have been both his hands plus who ever was on the receiving end of that flying Rammer. You probably could get away with it if it was the first round being fired, but dam ! walking in front of the muzzle plus using both hands to ram down the charge; now that takes Hutzpa.

[flagman1776]

   OMG!! 

[dominick]

Some while back, Cannonmn posted a video on youtube titled "Suicide with a Cannon"  The guy was standing in front of the barrel while loading in it too. 

[flagman1776]

 

[Double D]

Some while back, Cannonmn posted a video on youtube titled "Suicide with a Cannon"  The guy was standing in front of the barrel while loading in it too. 

Actually as bad as the actions in the video were, cannonmn took it one step further, hijacked the video, added his comments and posted it on youtube without permission of the orignal video owner, a  violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright act.   Instead of trying to help the poster the understand the safety issues involved he mocked him with the video.  As the result,  OP Squire Robins has not been back to this board since.

[Cannoneer]

I believe that this is the first time that I've ever seen a reenactment crew use loose powder and a ladle to load a gun, instead of following modern safety guidelines that call for shaped foil cartridges. When I viewed this vid for the first time, I thought they were thumbstalling the vent, but then realized that they were holding their forefingers on the vent to stop powder from being blown out when the man with the rammer was in high gear. I probably shouldn't have used "reenactment crew" to describe these fellows, because they're evidently performers putting on a show for an audience; but any way you look at it, they should have recieved a little more training in how to safely load and fire a cannon.