Cannon building

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petew

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Can we build a model canon in Canada and shoot it without a lot of legal problems?
In short are we allowed to build a 50 cal canon with a 8" barrel complete with wheels and a frame etc and use it, or is this just trouble with the authorities , and they would consider it illegal, to have and shoot.?
Pete
 
Correct as above when used with a fuse... Not a firearm designed to be fired hand-held or from the shoulder and the ignition is essentially a matchlock. My 69 cal Traditions naval cannon is a hoot to shoot at gongs.
 
At most rendezvous' there is now a fun competition with these pieces. At our island meets usually see between 10 and 12 shooting things up on Saturday after dinner. Lots of laughter and good natured banter. The fun side of life and we need more of these.
 
I am not sure if there are any laws which directly say that the cannon has to be fired by a fuse. I think that they are considered to be signalling devices and as such considered to be non firearms. They are obviously not designed to be shot with one hand and as long as no one does something stupid with one, hopefully their classification will not be more closely examined.

cheers mooncoon
 
Subscribed! I can't decide how big to go. A golf ball sized cannon would be cheaper to shoot but launching a bowling ball from a repurposed welding cylinder would be a bunch of fun too.
 
a golf ball size projectile is prety big, and if it was lead would take a decent amount of powder to shoot it, saw one where they shot beer cans, full ones a good 100 feet, issue is the size of tube required and a good welding job on the end. if for some reason anyone gets hurt or complaints I figure they will be added in the gun law prety quick
 
laurencen said:
a golf ball size projectile is prety big, and if it was lead would take a decent amount of powder to shoot it, saw one where they shot beer cans, full ones a good 100 feet, issue is the size of tube required and a good welding job on the end. if for some reason anyone gets hurt or complaints I figure they will be added in the gun law prety quick
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I have a cannon that shoots balls just slightly smaller than a golf ball (mine1.625, golf ball 1.73). I use 350 gr (.8 of an ounce) of black in it. It will shoot a loosely patched steel ball at 1375 fps, some learned CGN member informed me that it computed out to be around 25,000 ft. lb. of energy. I have shot a cast concrete ball into a gravel pit face at approx. 200 yrds, projectile time of travel is about what you would expect with a .50 cal muzzle loader and the drop from point of aim to hit was about 4 ft.

Only a 100 ft travel distance of a beer can from a cannon would have had either an anemic powder charge or a very, very loose fit in the bore. Civil war tables for a 4 pounder (slightly bigger than a "beer can" bore) show a full service load with a "usable range" of out to 1400 yrds with less than a pound of powder. I am currently in the "build" process of a "pop can" cannon and plan on using 4-6 oz. of black in it and expect to get 4-500 yrds out of it...weather I can hit the same 1/4 section with it will be another story tho.
 
rgbai said:
With the long gun registry gone and as long as you have a pal. why wouldn't a caplock fired cannon be legal as long as it has a 19" barrel?
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I just bought a shotgun with a 13" barrel. I decided against the one with the 8 1/2" barrel cuz I was worried about blowing my hand off. I'm not even sure what the Firearm Act has to say about homemade cannons. I'd better look into it before I get too far.
 
Ardik said:
Subscribed! I can't decide how big to go. A golf ball sized cannon would be cheaper to shoot but launching a bowling ball from a repurposed welding cylinder would be a bunch of fun too.
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In between that, some 3" XXH seamless pipe can launch a tennis ball stuffed with lead shot pretty far.... I've been trying to locate the plans I had. The original builder claimed some pretty long shots.
 
fingers284 said:
Only a 100 ft travel distance of a beer can from a cannon would have had either an anemic powder charge or a very, very loose fit in the bore..
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I am told that 1/2 can of concrete is more accurate because without rifling, the full can is not stabilized and the 1/2 can functions more like a round ball

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
I am told that 1/2 can of concrete is more accurate because without rifling, the full can is not stabilized and the 1/2 can functions more like a round ball

cheers mooncoon
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We fire the 1/2 sized cans of concrete and find them surprisingly accurate. Have not tried the full length cans but apparently this (more accurate - dunno exactly why) ^ is why. At our open house this year (Terrace Rod & Gun Club), all shots were on an archery-sized target at 100 yards. IIRC correctly that was 12 rounds fired (and multiple cans of 1F up in smoke).
 
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