Cannon barrel, what steel to use?

Interesting. I can understand a muzzleloading touchole gun (matchlock, flintlock, etc.)being classed as an antique; that is cut and dried. Once a gun has a percussion lock, would registration not be required?
 
Anyone else who wants to make a canon might want to look into getting an old argon or other high pressure gas container, cut off the flat end and use the valve hole for a mesh.
 
tiriaq said:
Interesting. I can understand a muzzleloading touchole gun (matchlock, flintlock, etc.)being classed as an antique; that is cut and dried. Once a gun has a percussion lock, would registration not be required?
Click to expand...

Two possibilities; one is that handguns are those designed to be shot with one hand so presumably long guns are defined as requiring two hands and a cannon is neither. Perhaps also cannons of the type that we own are considered to be signaling devices for the sake of convenience. That would make them exempt under cc84-3

cheers mooncoon
 
Referring back to Al Flipo's method of making ball molds; attached is a photo of a mold that I made but different technique. The mold is similar to the Jeff Tanner molds in that they are nesting molds made from brass round stock. What is different from Al however is that instead of using a round nosed end mill, I make up a cutter using a piece of high carbon steel from a worn out circular saw blade and silver solder than to some square stock and harden it as it is cooling. I drill out as much metal as I can with twist drills and create the smooth curved surface with the cutter. A little over 1" is about as large as I can make before it requires too much pressure to cut effectively. The advantage of this method is that you are not limited to ball diameters the same as standard mill diameters. The cutters in the photo are secured with a machine screw but they have a tendency to break while boring.

cheers mooncoon

Roundballmoldsb.jpg
 
Nice job on the mould mooncoon, we should all get together at the Parksville range, or the Port Alberni range for a morning cannon shoot.
I would like to see "tonyg" hit that 5-gal pail with his 2" bore...;)
This is a pic of a couple 5/8" ball moulds I made with the use of a a ball mill, RBCS handles and locating pins.

Picture482.jpg
 
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Excellent machining. I think the advantage of the nesting method of indexing is that I am unlikely to be as precise as you in locating the indexing pins as well as the collar and socket have a lot more area to absorb wear over extended use. The mold pictured above was for a belted ball for a two groove Lancaster rifle; sort of a slightly smaller caliber version of the Brunswick. The biggest mold I have made was up around 1.1" for the largest (for now) of my cannons.

cheers mooncoon
 
Quote
"Nice job on the mould mooncoon, we should all get together at the Parksville range, or the Port Alberni range for a morning cannon shoot."

I like the way you're thinking Al :D
I had a 50 Napolean cannon follow me home ;)from my last visit to Lever Arms

Cheers nessy.
 
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