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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:19:42 PM EDT
My neighbor and I want to build a cannon. Nothin' fancy or expensive. We will build the undercarriage and stuff, and a little work on the barrel is no problem. We just can't seem to find a cheap barrel. We're looking for something about 6 feet long. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:21:55 PM EDT
[#1]
Heavy equipment junkyard will yield all sorts of truck axle housings to use.
A friend of mine made one from 2 of them welded together. It was pretty nice after he finished it. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:23:30 PM EDT
[#2]
Cheap and cannon barrel don't belong in the same sentance.
Try Hern Ironworks. They have some nice stuff. Six foot long cannon barrel? Man you better have some "disposable income"! |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:25:06 PM EDT
[#3]
Good idea. This will be my next stop. All we need are raw materials. We have all the tools to build a cannon. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:25:58 PM EDT
[#4]
Look around for a used Hyd piston housing , the older the better . I've seen some that had 1"+ wall thickness . |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:26:30 PM EDT
[#5]
This bears repeating...! |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:29:02 PM EDT
[#6]
That's the challenge. We want to do it cheap. What is it that is so expensive? I would guess a barrel. That's why we want raw materials, to cut costs. We want six feet so we can cut off about a foot to cast ammo. Ultimately we want a five foot cannon. We have a lock on the wheels, and the stuff for a carriage. It doesn't have to be super accurate, just make a big boom and put rounds down range. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:31:20 PM EDT
[#7]
There was a thread somewhere about a home made cannon. If I remember correct the guy killed himself.
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:31:40 PM EDT
[#8]
Another good idea. Keep em coming guys. I love the ARFCOM hive brain. 
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:33:29 PM EDT
[#9]
I'm gonna let my neighbor light the fuse while I hide behind a big rock.  He wants to hunt deer with it.  J/K.
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:34:50 PM EDT
[#10]
Look into some XXX heavywall seamless pipe. It will be expensive but you wont have to worry about blowing it up unless you do something stupid. Mine is XXX 1 inch @ four feet long. It eats about 400 grains of BLACK POWDER (this does not refer to a color, it is the composition), and shoots a 2800 grain slug. I threaded the breach end with a fine thread 1 1/8" tap about 2 inches deep. Drilled and tapped for a musket nipple and made a slap hammer activated by at least 50 feet of line. This is not a toy though the ATF considers any front loading blackpowder charged gun to be a toy no matter the bore size.
Good luck. Don't hesitate to ask questions. If I don't know, I will tell you I don't know. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:37:31 PM EDT
[#11]
The idiot used smokeless propellant!!!! You need one hell of a strong tube and need to know the exact amount of propellant for a given weight of projectile. Smokeless propellant is NOT forgiving!!! |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:37:48 PM EDT
[#12]
Awww, don't listen to these guys. All you need is a six foot piece of sewer pipe. That will definitely put you in the cheap category.
Disclaimer: The above statemment is a joke, not intended to be taken seriously. It would be very dangerous and foolhardy to attempt making a cannon barrel out of anything other than the correct material. If you do anyway and kill yourself, well, I just don't want to hear about it. 
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:48:31 PM EDT
[#13]
Good stuff guys. We planned on using black powder, not the smokeless stuff because the big cloud of smoke is all part of the fun. Good heads up on the smokeless stuff though.
Pangea, thanks for the offer for advice. I will take you up on it. We really don't want to blow up. If one inch thickness is enough, that will help us because we though it would have to be thicker. That simplifies things a little bit. 400 grains of BP with a 2800 grain slug sounds like a good rule of thumb to start with. My neighbor has fired cannons before at civil war re enactments. He and I just don't want to shell out the big bucks to get one. Great stuff guys. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:48:51 PM EDT
[#14]
At least make it big enough to shoot bowling balls.
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:51:45 PM EDT
[#15]
buckstix is gonna hate me, but here is a nice site with good info: cannon build
ps the steel cost $300. not bad for almost three feet of 1 1/4 thickness steel. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:52:30 PM EDT
[#16]
Those guys are my heros! http://www.bcvc.net/old/ We have a friend that has since passed away that used to shoot Volkswagon pistons out of his cannon. You can't find a VW piston in a junkyard anywhere in this county anymore. We haven't decided on what to use for projectiles yet. We were even considering flachette rounds from a modified coffee can. We'll see. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:54:01 PM EDT
[#17]
Here ... hold my beer while I light this fuse
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:55:55 PM EDT
[#18]
OUTSTANDING!!!  Thank you. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:56:20 PM EDT
[#19]
There is info on a bowling ball mortar somewhere on the net. It uses 300 grains of BP and launches the balls at least 800 yds. My barrel is 1/2" wall thickness. One inch bore, two inches overall diameter. Don't use my load specs on your cannon! Determine the pressure parameters for the material that you use for your barrel and work from there. I proof tested mine with 600 grains of BP and a slug that weighed about 3500 grains. I did this three times with inspections between each shot. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:56:40 PM EDT
[#20]
My father has one he bought from Dixie Gun Works in the 70's. Everyone in the neighborhood liked it so much that 2 of our neighbors bought them as well. It is a 3 pound mountain howitzer and shoots a frozen concentrated orange juice can full of concrete as a projectile. (we almost never got to do that) It does make a hell of a bang with 1/3 lb of black powder. We ued it for Revolutionary War reenactments. Much fun and a damn fine cannon. Ours came on a Civil War Carriage but we built a mid 1700s British one.
I believe this is it http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=1649 |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 7:58:17 PM EDT
[#21]
You laugh. That's a pretty good description of what's gonna happen. I kid. Sort of. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 8:01:12 PM EDT
[#22]
That sounds like a lot of fun. It's cool you got to do that. That cannon is a bit pricey though. We want cheap thrills baby! |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 8:09:05 PM EDT
[#23]
You need light weight for portability. Weld up some tennis ball cans.
CW |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 8:50:22 PM EDT
[#24]
Screw that. Post pictures. Or at least have the nearest living relative post 'em...
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Posted: 10/18/2004 9:32:27 PM EDT
[#25]
Correction. I believe the living relative will be the one furthest away. |
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Posted: 10/18/2004 9:35:06 PM EDT
[#26]
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