Your opinions and thought for the 1" projectile for my Cannon

[Onit12345]

How do you all think if the bullet for my 1" cannon had a projectile that is shaped like a football and it had 4 fins on the back for stabilization and possable rotation of it after it was fired.

It will have the windage of course taken into consideration and will measure 1.625 in length. The weight will be around 3 oz. In the safety regulation for loads at the N-SSA for a smooth bore gun it doesn't go down to 1 inch but for a 2 inch one it is a recommendation of powder of 4 oz and a projectile weight of 16 oz so i would assume that a 1" would be half of that which is 2 oz powder ( in which i will not do ) but the projectile weight 8 oz also ( in which i will not do ) but a projectile weight of 3-4 oz should work fine NO?

let me know your thought on the bullet. Will it work for better accuracy?

I'll post some picture later today or tommrow

Thanks Tino

[GGaskill]

Actually the relationship between 2" bore and 1" bore is 1/8 (1/2 X 1/2 x 1/2), so the shot weight would be closer to two ounces and the charge weight would be about 1/2 ounce (220 grains.) 

Your proposed projectile would be interesting.  You might need to launch it from a sabot to take up the space between the end and the center which seals the bore.  If you angle the fins to cause rotation, don't angle them much.  The goal would be to lessen dispersion, not stabilize like rifling.

[cannonmn]

Engineers have been redesigning the round shot almost since it was invented.  There were a number of interesting fin-addition types tried around the time of the Civil War.  During the past century of so, engineers have come up with hundreds of improvements to the shotgun rifled slug, some with fins.  If you checked some of those concepts you might find something very similar, then you could check whether they were successful or not.
 

 

[Victor3]

 I'm not one to poo-poo anyone wanting to experiment with such things; it's a lot of fun and has been very educational for me. 


 However, the type of projectiles you're contemplating will be relatively expensive (at least in terms of time) to make and probably won't get you much more accuracy than a ball out of a smoothbore. Also, keep in mind that whatever you put on the back end of your slug will have to survive the pressure applied to it upon firing.


 Just a thought, since you're looking to gain more accuracy. Howsabout installing a 12 gauge rifled sleeve? You can get a 1.25" dia x 24" blank from E.R. Shaw for $135 (scroll about half way down the page)...


http://www.ershawbarrels.com/scb-price-list.php


 Looking at your previous post, I see you have machining ability and could probably install the liner make a mould for a slug to fit it if you wanted to go that way.

[cannonmn]

If I were doing this here's what I would do first:
 
Buy commercial finned shotgun slugs as pictured in my earlier post, or similar, 12 gauge of course.  Since that's not too terribly much less than 1" diameter, make a simple sabot to support them in the bore, provide gas check,  and protect fins, which is not hard using things like plywood, cardboard, sawdust or plaster, press, hole saw, etc..
 
Take pix or video of the work and results.