Cannons in Canada

jcoulson64

jcoulson64

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Somewhere in the Western Colonies
Hi guys!

So recently I have gained a hankering to get a full size black powder cannon.

1. I've been looking around but am having no luck; any special restrictions to owning cannons or are they basically treated like a non restricted firearm?

2. I was kind of looking at maybe Loyalist Arms for one of theirs, but are there any other good manufacturers that are Canadian or that are accessible to Canadians that make good quality shootable cannons without totally bankrupting a guy?

Thanks guys!
 
A full size cannon? How would you propose to make projectiles for one?

There was a 50cal BP Gatling gun offered on the EE not that long ago.

M
 
From my understanding a fused cannon is unregulated. Can be used where it's safe, so basically where a non restricted could be.

I'd like to find a nice, decently priced ~1" bore cannon one of these days.
 
jcoulson64 said:
Hi guys!

So recently I have gained a hankering to get a full size black powder cannon.

1. I've been looking around but am having no luck; any special restrictions to owning cannons or are they basically treated like a non restricted firearm?

2. I was kind of looking at maybe Loyalist Arms for one of theirs, but are there any other good manufacturers that are Canadian or that are accessible to Canadians that make good quality shootable cannons without totally bankrupting a guy?

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

Message a fellow cgn'er "dmay". He has a fully functional one. I've seen it shoot....very cool! And btw, Darrel casts his own projectiles.
 
I have a 1 inch bore cannon, made it years ago, shoot regularly on birthdays, new years and Canada day, mostly no projectile just lots of wadding, makes quite a bang and fire show, I also made a mold for 1 inch lead balls, we shoot this at the lake during late fall when no one is around, put enough powder behind it and all I can say is never stand close or behind it, have no idea how a full size one would perform but a huge chunk of lead

few years ago there was one that fired a coke can projectile filled with concrete, it was scary to see it fire
 
I have a 2.6" bore full size firing replica of a civil war piece here in my shop, we shoot pop cans filled with concrete out of it. The fellows that built it sized the bore for cans. Uses 4-16 ounces of 1Fg depending on your mood. We've had it out for our clubs open house for the past 5 years always commands a crowd. The fellers that built it had the barrel bored from a single massive piece of bar stock salvaged from a local mill; they also had it profiled. Impressive piece I'll try and get some photos up.

expensive to build, expensive to shoot but it's like hot rodding: "Fun Per Gallon"
 
Bought a 69 calibre that uses 12 gauge shotgun slugs from Rustywood trading in Mission BC. Shoot it every day at noon at my production facility. My employees have learned to expect and love the tradition we have developed. Love that shat lol
 
Full size is a wide ranging term, especially full size and functional. You can find quite a few from the US, 6 pounders etc, but they usually arent cheap. You can also look for a smaller cast one (I know one member had one cast by the Alberni Foundry years ago).
I managed to buy a 5ft long 6pounder, and will just say, when you get into that size, moving, and storing something that weighs that much can become a pain. Anyway quite a few makers online, and somewhere there is a website that specialists in just cannons, but I forget the address.
 
I have a small cannon that I load for kids to shoot blank charges with at my local fish and game club's annual family day. I have shot lead balls from it but the competition no longer exists where I could use it. The photo was taken quite a few years ago while at the cannon shoot with my nephew.



I would suggest that a small signal cannon size would be more practical. Mine was made from 1" seamless tubing with 1/2" wall thickness. The cascabel / breach plug is threaded into the back of the barrel and the gun is shot with a fuse. There are round 1/4" thick plates at the breach, front of the trunion location and at the muzzle and they are welded to the barrel. There are 1" diameter sockets for the trunions welded to the middle plate and to the barrel and the trunions are added only after the outer body of the gun is finished. Most of the diameter is built up with polyprope rope then covered with Bondo and finally spray painted black. The breach plug is bored as a powder chamber. I am guessing wildly that a machine shop could make the metal work in 4 to 5 hours and you could do the rest. There are similar barrels made from seamless tubing around 2" diameter or bigger to fit a pop can and usually a half pop can filled with concrete is shot because it is more accurate that a full length can.

My impression is that a full size (3" - 4" bore) artillery cannon with a cast barrel would probably cost you $10 or $20,000 if the carriage was included. It would also be darn heavy and need a trailer to move it.

cheers mooncoon
 
Here is mine. It is a 2/3 scale British 9 pdr. Field Gun with 38" rims the bore is tennis ball sized. I believe the barrel of mine was built up like MC's. This gun has a threaded breech so it can be muzzle or breech loaded. The breech has two interchangeable chambers of different capacity, one for citrus and one for signaling:) The photo of me as taken about 5 years ago, since then I am happy to report I am now 55 lbs. lighter.
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"Seamless tubing" can mean different things.
Some seamless tubing is drawn from a slug, and has actually no seam.
Other seamless tubing has a welded seam but has been drawn so that there is no apparent seam. It is referred to as seamless because there is no visible seam.

I have a small mortar that I bored from solid. 4" diameter steel, drilled a 3/4" hole full depth of the bore, then bored this up to accept a tomato paste sized can, leaving a 3/4" diameter powder chamber. A lot of boring. It will loft a plaster filled can quite a ways. Had another of this size years ago. Found that if the flare element from a pen gun flare was embedded in the plaster, it would trace.

themuzzleloadingforum.com has a cannon section. The accounts of the mishaps are sobering.
 
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We made a few signal cannons at our machine shop when I was a tool and die maker. We turn them in the lathe and the ones made out of brass got really expensive but is really the way to go. Made them in all sort of sizes, from ones that could be mounted on the bow of a boat to a parade size that is towed behind a car.
 
This is the one I'm "caretaker" of now (it's for a community benefit, intended for the annual open house and we use it open up certain local events). As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the barrel is actually bored (to pop can diameter) from a solid massive chunk of steel salvaged from a local mill; a local shop did the boring and also profiled it. I'm told it cost an arm and a leg even with a lot of donated time. I believe the wheels were bought somewhere.



She ways 600 pounds dry and as others mentioned, it has to be trailered. It also takes up a lot of room in my shop; I have two barns but I want to make sure she stays dry so I may end up building a special shed for 'er. Maybe with a false log cabin front full of round ball holes.
 
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