I have wanted to build a replica saluting cannon for some time now. So I hooked up with a colleague from work, a professional machinist and welder, and together we decided to designed and build two 10 ga. cannons. One for each of us. For reference mine is #1, his is #2. After the initial concepts were made we varied our individual cannons to our own taste. Of course some changes were intentional, others were not...if you get my drift. We had discussions over what length to make the barrels. We didn't know if or how length would effect the sound of the report.
So anyway we fired them a few times each to check and tune our
firing mechanism. We started with empty primed hulls.
I didn't want to deal with a hang fire and a full load.
This turned out to be a good idea since my first shot was a
hang. Just a little modification to the firing pin was
needed. Next we tried the standard Winchcester load.
Anyone who has done one of these projects can imagine our
smiles `:) hearing that first report, and the second, third...
So how does it sound? Sort of..."BABOOM-ooom"
with a pleasant sonic concussion felt over the chest, face, and
hair. Look for our video coming soon. He has to
figure out how to get the video from the camera to the computer.
Now I understand why in other cannon videos the camera
shakes when the thing touches off. As far as barrel length
and report, we fired both of them in close succession and could
not perceive a difference. We are going to try some tests
with a sound db meter later.
I also want to try some handloads with different black powder.
Maybe ffg with fffg and see how this effects the report.
But not before I do some more reading and consulting.
Thanks to Cannon-Mania.com and Ray-Vin.com for there continuing support.
Hear are the pictures we have so far. After viewing use
your browser BACK button.
Related Sites
