Had the cannon out...

NavyShooter

NavyShooter

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Well,

I had the Cannon out on Saturday with my Son (6) participating in the loading and firing. MUCH fun. We put a half-dozen blank shots downrange, and he enjoyed lighting the fuse for two of them.

No video, as I'm not at the point where I'm going to focus on a camera, a 6 year old and a cannon at the same time (and I forgot it, and the tripod)

Just wanted to share that a 6 year old firing a cannon = BIG GRIN

(Cannon details....1.5" bore, 28" OAL, with home-made carriage. Tested to 325 grains Fg BP, running load of 300 grn Fg BP.)

NS
 
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I've been shooting 140 grains of ffg in a 1" bore with a 1.25" long cylinder of lead in front of it. I'd like fg but this was more available, ffg is probably borderline at 1". My fuse hole is pretty large, almost 1/4" so that would help with pressures.

For sound 300 seems like it would do the trick haha. 140 gets the lead moving in a 1". I should load it lighter so I'll have a chance of finding the lead to be melted down again.


What is your cannon made out of and whats the outer diameter?

A local guy here measures oranges at the supermarket and then freezes them. Probably confuses the people more interested in ripeness. I haven't tried pop corn kernels yet.
 
Win 38-55 said:
He'll remember that great time all his life.
Click to expand...

He will remember that for sure. What fun. Reminds me of when my boys were allowed to help load and fire a cannon with a family friend who had built it from a kit. Great excitement. You have to post pics. It would be great to see your cannon and your boy touching one off.
 
Congrats. I should break out my cannon again. I started using Triple Seven instead of black powder due to the rarity around these parts. Works wonders in the golf ball mortar, no sulfur smell, and way easier to clean in my opinion.
 
Working on the elevation screw tonight. Realized that the 1/2" threaded rod was too big, so I made my own 3/8" rod....good fun. A brass wheel...brass base....I'm slow at fabricating, but it's gonna be solid.
 
Here is a story told to me by a late friend.

If you ever take the ferry out to Toronto Island, where the ferry comes in, there are two cannons, one each side of the dock. Years ago, back in 1960s, he and his school chums asked and got permission to clean and paint them as a summer project. They spent several days over the summer and did a real good job of scraping and wire brushing. They were praised on their good work and the paint was provided to them. Fresh coat of black paint, they looked good. They even cleaned and greased the bores. So........

There were a ton of loose cannon balls laid around. They cleaned those up too and put them in a pyramid pile next to each of the guns. So......

One of the boys stole a pound of black powder from his father's workbench. So........

Originally they were just going to shoot a blank to celebrate but they figured that with only one tin of powder the ball would just plop out of the cannon into the water. They aimed the cannon out from the island towards Toronto into the middle of the bay expecting the ball to just go ploop and make a splash in the water. Well it did, it went about 1000 yards. It made a big splash just off the starboard bow of the ferry just as it was leaving the Toronto dock.

The kids ran and hid in the amusement park till dark. They watched the harbour police go around and around. When the park closed they had to leave and were caught by the cops waiting for them at the ferry, which was the only way off the island other than swimming. No charges laid (this was the 1960s) but they caught holy hell from the cops and then even worse again from their parents when they got home in the back of a police car.

Great story! The cannon are still there. Bores are now filled with concrete and the pile of balls are welded together.
 
Hahaha!! Great story...love it!

I can imagine how scared they were...:D

...just a bit of a lapse in judgement there...

BTW, I took pics of that cannon last summer. And here they are. No sign of cannon balls for some reason??:D


CentreIslandCannon1Large.jpg


CentreIslandCannon12Large.jpg


CentreIslandCannon2Large.jpg


CentreIslandCannon9Large.jpg


CentreIslandCannon8Large.jpg











englishman_ca said:
Here is a story told to me by a late friend.

If you ever take the ferry out to Toronto Island, where the ferry comes in, there are two cannons, one each side of the dock. Years ago, back in 1960s, he and his school chums asked and got permission to clean and paint them as a summer project. They spent several days over the summer and did a real good job of scraping and wire brushing. They were praised on their good work and the paint was provided to them. Fresh coat of black paint, they looked good. They even cleaned and greased the bores. So........

There were a ton of loose cannon balls laid around. They cleaned those up too and put them in a pyramid pile next to each of the guns. So......

One of the boys stole a pound of black powder from his father's workbench. So........

Originally they were just going to shoot a blank to celebrate but they figured that with only one tin of powder the ball would just plop out of the cannon into the water. They aimed the cannon out from the island towards Toronto into the middle of the bay expecting the ball to just go ploop and make a splash in the water. Well it did, it went about 1000 yards. It made a big splash just off the starboard bow of the ferry just as it was leaving the Toronto dock.

The kids ran and hid in the amusement park till dark. They watched the harbour police go around and around. When the park closed they had to leave and were caught by the cops waiting for them at the ferry, which was the only way off the island other than swimming. No charges laid (this was the 1960s) but they caught holy hell from the cops and then even worse again from their parents when they got home in the back of a police car.

Great story! The cannon are still there. Bores are now filled with concrete and the pile of balls are welded together.
Click to expand...
 
Hey Navy: Just curious, what projo are you shooting?......Load sounds kind of light? Hows accuracy?
I shoot a 1.7", lead cylinder about 1.3 calibre in length, with about 1200 grains of FFg.
 
englishman_ca said:
Here is a story told to me by a late friend. ...
Click to expand...

Something similar happened with the "9-O'Clock Gun" at Brockton Point in Vancouver Harbour about the same era. Some troglodytes dumped a bunch of rocks into the muzzle at some point during the day (I think it was reloaded in the mornings) and at 9pm, off went the cannon with its unexpected projectiles, which hit one of the gas barges (Shell, I think) which were moored in the harbour a few hundred yards out for the use of boaters. As I recall there were several holes in the big illuminated sign on the barge. I don't remember if anyone was charged.

:) Stuart
 
englishman_ca said:
Here is a story told to me by a late friend.

If you ever take the ferry out to Toronto Island, where the ferry comes in, there are two cannons, one each side of the dock. Years ago, back in 1960s, he and his school chums asked and got permission to clean and paint them as a summer project. They spent several days over the summer and did a real good job of scraping and wire brushing. They were praised on their good work and the paint was provided to them. Fresh coat of black paint, they looked good. They even cleaned and greased the bores. So........

There were a ton of loose cannon balls laid around. They cleaned those up too and put them in a pyramid pile next to each of the guns. So......

One of the boys stole a pound of black powder from his father's workbench. So........

Originally they were just going to shoot a blank to celebrate but they figured that with only one tin of powder the ball would just plop out of the cannon into the water. They aimed the cannon out from the island towards Toronto into the middle of the bay expecting the ball to just go ploop and make a splash in the water. Well it did, it went about 1000 yards. It made a big splash just off the starboard bow of the ferry just as it was leaving the Toronto dock.

The kids ran and hid in the amusement park till dark. They watched the harbour police go around and around. When the park closed they had to leave and were caught by the cops waiting for them at the ferry, which was the only way off the island other than swimming. No charges laid (this was the 1960s) but they caught holy hell from the cops and then even worse again from their parents when they got home in the back of a police car.

Great story! The cannon are still there. Bores are now filled with concrete and the pile of balls are welded together.
Click to expand...

The proper response to a shot across the bows of a ship is for the ship to heave to and surrender. Did the ferry captain do so?
 
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