Author Topic: Water Balloons ??  (Read 2751 times)

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Offline subdjoe

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #30 on: June 24, 2012, 12:40:16 PM »
A properly made foil cartridge, well tamped into the chamber, should give you close to the maximum "BOOM!"  I doubt that you could really tell any difference without equipment.  When we have live fired the Ordnance Rifle I babysit, I don't notice much difference between that and a blank of the same weight. 
Your ob't & etc,
Joseph Lovell

Justice Robert H. Jackson - It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #31 on: June 25, 2012, 08:46:20 AM »
Carmy53,
I salute your resolve in attempting to broaden our base of knowledge concerning the physics of artillery. Thanks for posting the vid and stills. That one pic made me think of a farmer trying to put an egg back into a hen.
RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline carmy53

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #32 on: June 25, 2012, 10:09:45 AM »
Carmy53,
I salute your resolve in attempting to broaden our base of knowledge concerning the physics of artillery. Thanks for posting the vid and stills. That one pic made me think of a farmer trying to put an egg back into a hen.
More than happy to help. With the Fourth coming up I might try the experiment again if I can find an appropriately sized balloon.

Offline subdjoe

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #33 on: June 25, 2012, 10:43:04 AM »
Carmy53,
I salute your resolve in attempting to broaden our base of knowledge concerning the physics of artillery. Thanks for posting the vid and stills. That one pic made me think of a farmer trying to put an egg back into a hen.

Dammit! Gotta clean my screen and dry out my keyboard now.
Your ob't & etc,
Joseph Lovell

Justice Robert H. Jackson - It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

Offline GGaskill

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #34 on: June 25, 2012, 10:51:22 AM »
Now I could believe a city child (you know, the ones who don't make the connection between Big Macs and cows) might try that but not a farmer.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
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Offline Victor3

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #35 on: June 25, 2012, 11:41:40 PM »
 I suppose you could try one of them long balloons that clowns use to make animals out of. IIRC, the closed end filled up 1st when I tried them with water (been a long time). Put it into the bore, fill with a turkey baster and tie it off.
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

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Offline RocklockI

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #36 on: June 26, 2012, 04:38:56 AM »
Or a balloon inside a balloon ?
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #37 on: June 26, 2012, 12:35:00 PM »
I suppose you could try one of them long balloons that clowns use to make animals out of. IIRC, the closed end filled up 1st when I tried them with water (been a long time). Put it into the bore, fill with a turkey baster and tie it off.

Victor,
I had the exact same thought (except for opting to fill it slowly with a garden hose). One of the long balloons that they'd stretch out first before blowing up to form the neck of a giraffe, or body of a dachshund would be perfect.   



RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline carmy53

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #38 on: June 26, 2012, 02:27:24 PM »
I suppose you could try one of them long balloons that clowns use to make animals out of. IIRC, the closed end filled up 1st when I tried them with water (been a long time). Put it into the bore, fill with a turkey baster and tie it off.
I'll give that a try but somehow it doesn't seem right going to ToysRUS for my cannon supplies. :o

Offline JeffG

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #39 on: June 29, 2012, 12:50:59 PM »
Quote
Water balloons are so fragile you might extinguish the powder before the water exited the bore.   ::)

What if you froze them?? ::)
Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff

Offline GGaskill

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2012, 05:38:13 PM »
Then you would have dangerous projectiles.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
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Offline keith44

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2012, 06:50:35 PM »
Then you would have dangerous projectiles.


and zinc balls that are the size of golf balls are safe???  ::) ::)



keep em talkin' while I reload
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #42 on: June 29, 2012, 07:17:43 PM »
And don't forget the steel Fox golf balls.

But the OP was asking about getting more bang from a salute load.  The water balloon was proposed as something that would provide greater resistance without having a potentially dangerous projectile in a noise making situation.
GG
“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”
--Winston Churchill

Offline Mauser M67

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #43 on: June 30, 2012, 12:07:34 AM »
Hello .. The point is to build up pressure quickly in a secure way that gives a good bang. where there are no fragments or projectiles that are dangerous.
I use flour as wads, with good results.
Mvh
 
Oyvind

Offline Double D

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #44 on: June 30, 2012, 03:24:21 AM »
Thanks Oyvind, some common sense out of  non sense.

Offline arrrg

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #45 on: June 30, 2012, 03:32:36 PM »
I tried a few ounces of creamora packed in aluminum foil. I hoped the creamora would enhance the flash at night but saw no noticable change beyond what would be expected with any wadding. I always use extra long fuses when experimenting.

Offline Artilleryman

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #46 on: June 30, 2012, 03:49:43 PM »
I tried a few ounces of creamora packed in aluminum foil. I hoped the creamora would enhance the flash at night but saw no noticable change beyond what would be expected with any wadding. I always use extra long fuses when experimenting.

If I understood this correctly, packing the creamora in aluminum foil probably turned it into a projectile as the package may not have ruptured.
Norm Gibson, 1st SC Vol., ACWSA

Offline carmy53

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #47 on: July 01, 2012, 04:59:49 AM »
Well, I performed the "water balloon as wadding" experiment again this morning. This time I found some balloons that were a lttle thicker which allowed me to push the balloon all the way down on to the powder. When I fired the mortar the sound was much better than the last time but it seemed more like a "crack" instead of a "boom". I thought the sound was less than what I usually get so I fired off a golf ball and I was right - the water balloon muffled the sound by about half.
 
My final conclusion is that if you wanted to fire your mortar/cannon in a residential area and wanted to be safe (eg. no projectile and no flaming embers) then using a water balloon as wadding seems reasonable. YMMV
 




 

Offline Cannoneer

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #48 on: July 02, 2012, 05:13:37 AM »
Excellent effort, carmy53, far above and beyond the call of duty! We should have some kind of Nobel (Cat Whisperer Award) prize for ordnance research of this caliber.
RIP John. While on vacation July 4th 2013 in northern Wisconsin, he was ATVing with family and pulled ahead of everyone and took off at break-neck speed without a helmet. He lost control.....hit a tree....and the tree won.  He died instantly.

The one thing that you can almost always rely on research leading to, is more research.

Offline Delkal

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Re: Water Balloons ??
« Reply #49 on: July 03, 2012, 04:48:24 PM »
My favorite "projectile" for a blank load is a piece of a T-shirt.  I always swab the chamber of my GB mortar between shots with a damp piece of a T-shirt (about a 1/4 piece).  Not soaking wet ... just damp enough to kill any embers.  Just for fun at the end of the day I loaded it, gently tapped it down,  and fired it.   It was extremely loud!  The T-shirt only goes about 30 feet,  it rapidly opens and quickly stops.  Plus, it is self extinguishing and not a fire hazard.   You can recover it and use it again for a number of shots before it is too tattered.

Edit:  I don't want to HIJACK this thread so I started another thread on Favorite projectiles for blanks.