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CHEVYINLINE6

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Joined
Nov 29, 2022
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399
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Vancouver Washington
This is a muzzle loading cannon I built at work about 12 years ago. It was made over a time frame of a half hour a day over a 6 month period and extra time when the boss and manager were not around. The barrel is a 26 inch piece of DOM seemless tubing with a wall thickness of appox one inch at it's thickest part. The bore is appox 1-3/4 inches in size. The bore is the size of a golf ball or large lead cannon ball fishing sinker. I had a machine shop turn down the front of the barrel and thread the rear of the barrel and then I screwed in a $40.00 grade 8 bolt into the rear of the barrel and mig welded it in place. I then capped off the rear with a cut down oxygen bottle cap and mig welded that on and added a brass drawer pull. The carriage is made from 1/4 inch steel plate and the barrel can be raised or lowered by cranking a handle under the rear of the barrel. It has 8 wheels on 1/2 inch axles. To transport the barrel can be removed by turning 3 large wing nuts as the whole thing is very heavy. I test fired it with 2 hundred grains of black powder and a golf ball as the projectile. It went thru both sides of two GMC van doors. I never did find the golf ball. I have been using cannon fuse to ingnite the powder charge, but I am thinking of setting it up with a hammer and using Remington power loads. Total cost for the machine work and materials was right around $400.00

INLINECHEVY6.
 

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CHEVYINLINE6

Single-Sixer
Joined
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399
Location
Vancouver Washington
I really like it. You did a great job on it. (y)
Thank you, it was a fun project. I hope to get out this summer and shoot it more. A year and a half ago I built a mini bike. I always wanted my own. Kinda crazy for a old man born not long after WW2. Not sure which one of my Standards this is. Just got a better look at it. My 1954 model. Very little finish left. The grips are mid 1960's vintage.
 

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RSIno1

Hunter
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Southern California

CHEVYINLINE6

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 29, 2022
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Location
Vancouver Washington
I have thought of building a cannon from DOM. I like your bolt idea the breech was a sticking point. Sold off my mini bike many years ago - they are valuable classics today. There is a guy who builds adult size mini bikes. I thought of building one to putt around the pits and sell my Honda 50. https://www.minichoppersminibikes.com/product/extra-large-mini-bike-rolling-chassis-pit-bike/
Rode many Honda Cub 50's back in the day. Early ones had 3 speed trannys and the later ones were 4 speeds. Back in the 1960's everybody had a small motorcycle. Had one friend hit a deer one night on a Honda 90. Busted his open pretty good and killed the deer. All them bikes bring big money nowadays. I built the mini bike from a modified Mongoose bicycle frame.

INLINECHEVY6.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,023
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
Nice cannon there. I like it a lot.

Miss Penny & I were loafing at a flea market a few decades ago. I found small but beautiful brass cannon, made by "Ohio Stove Works" (according to the plate on the wood base.) She said; "Why are you buying that thing?"
Well, it came home,, & it wasn't long until she said; "I really like that cannon."
It's capable of being fired but I never have.
But we have added a few other small cannons on display now. She keeps saying; "I'd like to have a big one in the yard!"

If I had the time & materials,, I'd build one for her!
 

southernbuck101

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Joined
Jan 27, 2023
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184
Location
Georgia
That's cool.
But I'd be careful not to advertise the fact you have something of that nature in the current political climate.
Remember when tater guns were ruled as pipe bombs.
And the world, as we knew it then , was pretty sane by today's standards.
 

G2

Hunter
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
2,484
Location
UT/AZ
Your going to have a bunch of fun, especially on the 4th of July… Nice job building your cannon.

This Coehorn Mortar is built out of a 6.125"x14" Bronze (110lbs) It was the cut-off from a ships replacement drive shaft. (propeller was 12 feet)
Has 2.250" hole with a 1.5 oz egg shaped end powder chamber. Was originally built to use a 209 primer/string/hammer for ignition, but just use 3" of cannon fuse now.
I use small pineapple juice can filled with concrete for the projectile, or just stuff it with about anything from gravel to aluminum foil.
Mortar Bed is oak & steel
Always a favorite on the 4th & Reunions.

52717876618_fee05d398a_z.jpg
 

CHEVYINLINE6

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 29, 2022
Messages
399
Location
Vancouver Washington
Very nice. 110 pounds of bronze. That must have cost a pretty penny. You must work for the government ? LOL. Hollow hydraulic ram shafts make good cannon barrels also.

INLINECHEVY6.
 

G2

Hunter
Joined
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Messages
2,484
Location
UT/AZ
The guy that started the project worked for a government contractor, He did the lathe work; outside dimension, bore & powder chamber.
I acquired it in the middle and finished it.
 

CHEVYINLINE6

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 29, 2022
Messages
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Location
Vancouver Washington
At my old job before I retired, one day I had to cut up some old hydraulic cylinders. They had thick wall hollow shafts. I thought about making a bazooka, but then I slapped myself back to reality.

INLINECHEVY6.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
4,395
Location
Maryland
Your going to have a bunch of fun, especially on the 4th of July… Nice job building your cannon.

This Coehorn Mortar is built out of a 6.125"x14" Bronze (110lbs) It was the cut-off from a ships replacement drive shaft. (propeller was 12 feet)
Has 2.250" hole with a 1.5 oz egg shaped end powder chamber. Was originally built to use a 209 primer/string/hammer for ignition, but just use 3" of cannon fuse now.
I use small pineapple juice can filled with concrete for the projectile, or just stuff it with about anything from gravel to aluminum foil.
Mortar Bed is oak & steel
Always a favorite on the 4th & Reunions.

52717876618_fee05d398a_z.jpg
 

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