Did your gun ever jam on you?

[PHO127]

Well the cannon is ready for the psycovets choir practice and we were thinking of having the psyco orchestra do the war of 1812 for the cannon to fire. Anyone of you guys have an idea about how much powder to put in one. Thought I would use pyrodex for this with some P in the flash hole. has a 2 inch bore any idea about how much pyrodex would make a good loud bang? 4 oz??

[DMZ-LT]

Pound and a half ought to do it

I wouldn't be just altogether dead certain Pyrodex will work. At least by itself. A lot of flintlock shooters have told me they can't get Pyrodex to fire. I used Pyrodex P as the main charge in my flintlock but used 4-F BP in the pan and 10-15Gr. of the same under the main charge. I expect a hang-fire with a cannon could be a mite touchy.

[82Rigger]

Here's a web page with a chart of charges for different bore sizes.

Chart is about halfway down the page.


http://www.cannon-mania.com/black_powder.htm

[MORTARDUDE]

Ma Deuce never let me down.

Larry

"We would like to hear from anyone who has ever exploded a cannon barrel. Pictures, and stories would be most appreciated"

And I'm sure he'll write as soon as he returns to Earth and figgers out how.

[lcpd24]

Buddy in Northern Wis. had two home made cannons, used to shoot them off at parades an such, last fall we were shooting golf balls through an old refrigerator, we must have put a little to much powder in it, cause when she went off, blew the back of the damn thing all to hell, a 3# chuck just missed his leg by about 2 feet, went through the back of his garge, missed his 92 mustang, went through the side wall, buryed it self a pile of dirt about 10 inches. After we changed our shorts we had "another" drink, an thanked our lucky stars, an had a good laugh

[Jerry D]

Doc,
Glad to hear they went back to California and y'all get to keep up the traditional re-enactments that is great !
Last night on History channel they had the Lexington and Concord battle re-enactments .It was great watching the show and hearing about the history of the Shot Heard around the world.

[revwardoc]

We have a joke about how much powder to load into a musket:

Take a pound of 3F powder, fill the barrel, put the rest in the pan, and let 'er rip!

Actually, that's how the manufacturers test the barrel. They literally fill it with powder and set it off. I've seen it done! If the barrel can withstand that kind of blast, its safe.

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by Doc.2/47 "We would like to hear from anyone who has ever exploded a cannon barrel. Pictures, and stories would be most appreciated"

.

Hal
I never saw a cannon split but I saw what was left of an M79 that someone fired that had --i'm not kidding--duct tape securely fastened over the muzzle.
they taught us that in Recondo school but people got carried away taping them too tight.
Someone fired one of the the things that was taped up and kerblooooie: peeled like a banana.
I took the tape right off of mine when I saw that--whats a little dirt?
Looking forward to meeting you again
Stay good
James