Thanks all for the compliments.
Tracy, The photo you posted is the same photo I am using for copying the mount. It will look very close to it, shield and all. You are also correct, the original gun does have an intermittent rotation and firing sequence. I copied this feature into the muzzleloading replica.
Also, The gun in the photo is larger than 37mm. There were, I believe, 3 different caliber Hotchkiss cannons and 2 different size outer dimensions. The 37 mm is a noticably smaller version. Photos below.
You must have forgot, you should know that.
You are correct, Dom. I should have known that that gun was the middle size, 47mm Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon. All of them, the 37mm, the 47mm and the 53mm were used on ships. In your photos below the Russian Navy sailor, the top one is a photo of Mike studying a 37mm Hotchkiss gun on a naval cage mount located in White Point Gardens at the southern end of the Charleston, SC peninsula about 100 yards WSW of the wartime location of the huge, 60,000 pound Blakely, 12.75 inch seacoast rifle.
The next is Mike squinting to see the breech markings on the 47mm Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon located at the north-east corner of the upper parade ground next to Dewey Hall at Norwich University in Northfield, VT. You can easily see the size difference between these two. Mike and I were at Mare Island Shipyard in 2008. There is a rare 53mm Naval Hotchkiss there. It might possibly be the only one left in the U.S. Unfortunately, the official sign next to it is in error. It has the bore size of the gun, which served on board the USS Thetis, as a 55mm. According to our copy of 1885 Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon, descriptions and illustrations of the systems, as designed for Naval Service, Field Service and Flank Defence, Firing Tables, Proving Ground Tests and Official Reports by Lieut. Edward W. Very, United States Navy, there were only three sizes made, 37mm, 47mm and 53mm. Is is interesting that the dia. of the 47mm brass cartridge case, just ahead of the rim measures 55mm. Could this be the source of the sign's error? This case is a slightly bottle-necked case, just as the 47mm and the 37mm are.
You are right, Dom, I should know that without looking in a reference book!
Tracy