Homemade cannon - is it legal???

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bmartin909

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Hi. I have a friend who wants to sell his homemade cannon. It currently fires a 1.5" ball but he plans to weld it up prior to selling.

My question is, is it currently legal to have and sell, and is it even legal to sell once rendered inoperable.

Does anyone know the value of such a thing? Chrome lined barrel, heavy wall pipe, etc.

Thanks

View attachment 631738
 
Paul_T said:
It's a black powder muzzle loader - zero change from May 2020
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Awesome, thanks all for your great information. I knew a man in my town who years ago competed in cannon shoots where they would hit plywood I believe over a half kilometer away. He has since passed so that wealth of knowledge is no longer available.

As was being inferred, I was more curious how the OIC impacted this and if it was still fully legal.

Thanks again
 
20mm doesn't matter if the item is not a firearm, as legally defined. This and other cannons, fuse or touchhole ignited, are not firearms. Most problems with large cannons come from usage in stupid ways, not mere ownership. Noise complaints, worried neighbors, etc which is nothing to laugh at. On selling the issue becomes liability - is it safe?
"The bore should be lined with seamless steel tubing with a minimum 3/8-inch wall thickness and a yield strength of 85,000 p.s.i. or greater. The breechplug should be threaded and pinned; welded and pinned breechplugs can be equally strong but require expert installation by competent manufacturers. Sand-cored bores are not recommended for shooting. The vent should be drilled in a threaded copper bolt similar to original cannon vent liners of the 1840-1865 period in order to provide an unbroken passage through the casting and the liner, into the bore"
 
Firearm means a barrelled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile can be discharged and that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death to a person...

Then there are the definitions of deemed and prescribed antique firearms. Note that these are referred to as firearms. There are specific exemptions from licensing and registration for certain firearms classified as either deemed or prescribed antique firearms.

The OIC does not indicate whether it applies to deemed or prescribed antique firearms. They are neither specifically included nor excluded.

At the time of the OIC, I asked the Minister and the Prime Minister if the OIC applied to deemed and prescribed antique firearms. I did not receive the courtesy of a reply. I suspect that this was because this was something that they had not considered.
 
tiriaq said:
The OIC does not indicate whether it applies to deemed or prescribed antique firearms. They are neither specifically included nor excluded.
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My concern is that there are a handful of specifically-named "launchers" on the OIC ban list, which were previously prescribed to be non-firearms (Spike's 37mm, etc.) which are now deemed prohibited by virtue of their bore size exceeding 20mm, so the fact that they were previously not even considered a "firearm" seems to be irrelevant in the eyes of the OIC.

As usual, the law is open to interpretation, and it seems at least in my mind that antique firearms with bores exceeding 20mm could be deemed either prohibited by the OIC, or remain non-firearms be preexisting law, depending on who interprets the law and what they had for breakfast that day.

This was, in my opinion, intentional. It seems most excellent for our overlords, as it allows them to bend laws as they see fit to punish whoever they please at their leisure.
 
Only a couple posters have it remotely right on this topic most of you should actually download the OIC in its entirety not just small skippets of it that cherry pick parts of it to falsely give any reader a false sense of safety to promote what they want it to say.
The key sections that pertain to any cannons, not only BP or fuse fired are the 20,000 jules and more specifically the "20 MM or bigger bore". The first words of the 20MM section say "we have created a new class of firearms that include all"....these words are not "grey area or BP or fuse fired exclusive, they specifically include every 20MM bore in that classification. This is solidified by the use of 2 other words in the subsequent definition, these words are "devise" and "capable (also used in the 20,000 jules def)".

If someone can provide a "WRITTEN & SIGNED into the records" exemption for fuse fired or BP I would be very grateful...lying Bill Blairs fumbling statement at a newser dont count for even a cup of coffee.
 
fingers284 said:
Only a couple posters have it remotely right on this topic most of you should actually download the OIC in its entirety not just small skippets of it that cherry pick parts of it to falsely give any reader a false sense of safety to promote what they want it to say.
The key sections that pertain to any cannons, not only BP or fuse fired are the 20,000 jules and more specifically the "20 MM or bigger bore". The first words of the 20MM section say "we have created a new class of firearms that include all"....these words are not "grey area or BP or fuse fired exclusive, they specifically include every 20MM bore in that classification. This is solidified by the use of 2 other words in the subsequent definition, these words are "devise" and "capable (also used in the 20,000 jules def)".

If someone can provide a "WRITTEN & SIGNED into the records" exemption for fuse fired or BP I would be very grateful...lying Bill Blairs fumbling statement at a newser dont count for even a cup of coffee.
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10 000 joules, not 20 000.
 
Not specific to cannons, but more to the over 20mm: If you look at the armalytics FRT copy, it lists mortars above 60mm as prohibited, yet the various 2 inch or 52mm mortars are listed as not meeting the threshold of a firearm, likely because their muzzle velocity is too low. I believe the 60mm mortar is listed as having a muzzle velocity of 565 fps, although a quick look on Wikopedia shows 520fps.

This may be a matter of the FRT guys or the lab being uncertain what the new rules exactly encompass.

I see the 7.58 cm Minenwerfer is also listed as exempted on the armalytics....it has a muzzle velocity of 259fps.
 
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