Homemade Cannons

[burch]

Is it possible to make a homemade cannon that`s pretty easy and inexpensive. Nothing that you`ll need an airport to fire it on but something small that don`t need much powder. Maybe a 50 cal. ball or something along those lines.

           Burch  

[Voyageur]

 "Doc"

[Three Hawks]

It's much easier to make a model cannon of brass.  Google Cannon for measured drawings.   There's a great deal more to cannons and artillery than meets the eye.  

A scale model field piece and it's accessories are quite a lot more complicated to build than most folks realize.  I've seen some that look like they'd been built in the dark and test run downhill and a few that were wonderful.  Most kits are of the built in the dark variety.

Remember that a .50 caliber model cannon is basically a .50 caliber pistol not under anyone's direct control and every bit as lethal.

Three Hawks

[bluelake]

For my dissertation, I'll be making a small bronze cannon (two, really).  One will be similar to the one shown here, but smaller (ouch): http://www.koreanarchery.org/classic/clips/seungja.mpg and another, larger one, will be dual-purpose and cast by a company here in Korea.  With that one, not only will it be used in my work, it will also be used in a Korean gov't supported project for preserving bronze works in Korea, of which I am a member.  The first one I plan to make using sand casting.  It has a high zinc content (28%), so everything will be done outdoors due to fumes; copper is 65% and tin 7%.

[rollingb]

Is it possible to make a homemade cannon that`s pretty easy and inexpensive. Nothing that you`ll need an airport to fire it on but something small that don`t need much powder. Maybe a 50 cal. ball or something along those lines.

           Burch  :rt th

[CowboyCS]

I turned a couple on my lathe a few years ago that fire golf balls, I don't golf but I have a pastor friend who gives me his junk golf balls.

C

[Loyalist Dave]

Isn't that a hand-gonne in the video, not a cannon?  AND don't stand behind the guy eh?

I'd say if you were going to make one small caliber similar to a rifle, there are plenty of kits online, as well as premade.  Try gunbroker.  Otherwise, make it bigger!

I am working on a cohorn mortar myself.

LD

[bluelake]

Isn't that a hand-gonne in the video, not a cannon?  AND don't stand behind the guy eh?

I'd say if you were going to make one small caliber similar to a rifle, there are plenty of kits online, as well as premade.  Try gunbroker.  Otherwise, make it bigger!

I am working on a cohorn mortar myself.

LD

I suppose it depends upon definition.  I have heard the term hand cannon along with hand-gonne and, strictly speaking, I believe cannons start at anything over 1", which this is.  As the fellow in the video found out, whatever you want to call them, they certainly have a kick  

[Three Hawks]

Unless you're going for absolute period correctness, You might be able to afford a pearlitic cast iron barrel with a cast in shelby tubing liner with a plug welded by a certified pressure vessel welder.  

A friend of mine, since passed, had one done that way, a full scale replica of a U.S. Army M. 1841 Mountain Howitzer.  It was proofed to 30,000 cup.  The originals were brass, far too expensive now, but the Iron tube with liner was less than $500 in 1987.  Original caliber was 4 5/8".    Terry had his made to fit a beer can filled with cement or plaster of paris.  (2 5/8").

Three Hawks

[fm tim]

Dixie Gun Works sells a good starter cannon.  It has a brass barrel with Aluminum frame (I know, not politically correct but easy to assemble and very sturdy).  You finish the barrel to your liking, then screw the frame around it and put on the wheels.  Needs a touch hole drilled.  Bore is about .50.  A little paint and you have a presentable piece to start with.

[bluelake]

Dixie Gun Works sells a good starter cannon.  It has a brass barrel with Aluminum frame (I know, not politically correct but easy to assemble and very sturdy).  You finish the barrel to your liking, then screw the frame around it and put on the wheels.  Needs a touch hole drilled.  Bore is about .50.  A little paint and you have a presentable piece to start with.

I saw the ones put out by DGW.  However, if you read some of the reviews, the casting seems to be a bit shoddy. True, it is a kit, but when you are considering tube integrity, I'd be a bit leary.  

The barrel is bronze, not brass.  There's a big difference, although many confuse the two frequently.  Actually, in an earlier post of mine in this thread, I gave the composition of brass and not bronze; it came from a Korean gov't defense source (I thought the amount of zinc sounded suspicious).  When I told a metallurgy prof friend about it, he said the person didn't know what he was talking about.  Gunmetal bronze is, ideally, 90% copper and 10% tin; however, in reality, there is about 2% zinc, which is an impurity.

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Didn't DGW offer a full scale cannon and limber etc. at one time??? IT seems like the cannon was about 6 thousand dollars?

[melsdad]

I just finished a canon for a TMA member that I am delivering today. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm sure he will post some pictures once he gets her carriage finished.

[fm tim]

bluelake.

Thanks for the correction on barrel material.

I have made 3 as gifts, and the barrels on all showed no pits after slight surface finishing.

The carriage is cast aluminum and is OK in all 3

[bluelake]

bluelake.

Thanks for the correction on barrel material.

I have made 3 as gifts, and the barrels on all showed no pits after slight surface finishing.

The carriage is cast aluminum and is OK in all 3

Actually, my comment was more of a general comment, as many people say "brass" when they mean "bronze" (before I knew the difference, I said the same thing   ).

I wanted to order a bronze 5-1/2" barrel Dahlgren from cannon-mania.com, but they never answered my inquiry.  I think I'll send them another note.