Cool project!

I wouldn't bother making the ammunition, though. Lead round balls are cheap. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1165132904

Note that they are sold undersize from nominal bore diameter. That's to allow room for a patch.

Bass Pro or Cabelas is going to have them.

Personally, I like Pyrodex powder. P is FFFg and RS is FFg. FFg powder being coarser.

Make sure you wash the barrel out before you put it away.

I use hot water mixed with Ballistol. After I wash a barrel, I throughly dry it, then run a lightly oiled "mop" down the bore. Just lightly oiled. Too much oil and you'll end up getting the powder wet next time you load it.... that's no fun.

Get one of these, too. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014848690

And a powder measure. This one is 5-45 grains. https://www.amazon.com/Traditions-P.../B001MQI8QE/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=pistol+powder+measure&qid=1678935053&sr=8-5


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Very cool project very beefy too

 

Hopefully I can find the right drill bit to match up with a ball. I try and keep up on the cleaning of the bore thanks for the info

 

Just a heads up/warning

Twist drills actually drill oversized holes. Plus, for a hole that deep, even with a pilot, it's going to wander around some. A gun drill would work great, but they're SUPER expensive. If it were mine, I'd drill it undersize, then get whatever size reamer I needed (like a .480) and ream it to final diameter. Not only will that give me the desired bore diameter, but it'll help straighten the bore out. If it was still too tight, I'd put some sand paper on a rod, chuck the rod in the drill and sand it.

 

Looks great.

Dave

Has a 5/16 barrel in it now. My friend has a drill bit that it .522 diameter. Figured make the bullets with drill rod. I’d like something soft so it won’t hurt the barrel. View attachment 1754529 View attachment 1754531 View attachment 1754533 View attachment 1754535 View attachment 1754537 the blank is 4130 and it’s got 1/2” reinforcement on the back. Probably make the from from black locust

 

This would probably be really close with that .522 drill bit View attachment CBA1D9A8-8D5B-4C21-8F5F-C70251433171.jpg

 

5/16 diameter bore x 1” length sound like too small of a combustion chamber breach? From what I seen on YouTube guys were running 45 grains pretty easy on a tiny cannon. I’m thinking 50-60 grain

 

https://www.go2gbo.com/threads/proof-testing.9912/

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The guy who sold me my big lathe wanted to build a life sized cannon. He admitted he got discouraged at the price of the brass billet needed to make the cannon. If I recall he was intending to have perpendicular pivot protrusions extending 22" wide & a 55" barrel. The lathe was cheap compared to the brass billet.

 

You realize the drill rod is probably harder than the barrel?

 

I thought drill rod wasn’t that hard in its factory forum. Looks like it rockwells harder then 4130 chromoly View attachment 63A76725-2D66-4ACC-866E-9706354289A8.jpg View attachment 5C261138-25AB-4090-B83F-7F5E27B853E6.jpg View attachment 91D13ADD-BCC2-44C7-B98E-DC880465E3EE.jpg View attachment 56F49861-7476-425C-B033-793FAAB873C1.jpg barrel came out to .536 so perfect for a .535 ball and the 38 special had .03 grams in it and my cannon holds 1.3 grams. Supposedly 1 gram is 15 grain View attachment 6B32D1E5-F4AC-4B01-9E32-7DDB9D0D7A13.jpg need to find a fuse so I can test this puppy

 

I thought drill rod wasn’t that hard in its factory forum. Looks like it rockwells harder then 4130 chromoly View attachment 1754603 View attachment 1754605 View attachment 1754607 View attachment 1754609 barrel came out to .536 so perfect for a .535 ball and the 38 special had .03 grams in it and my cannon holds 1.3 grams. Supposedly 1 gram is 15 grain View attachment 1754613 need to find a fuse so I can test this puppy

After you load it, you can prime the touch hole (fuse hole) with powder, then put a match (or something like that) on a long stick and light the powder.

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Here's a cannon I made for my buddy in 2010. Move the video up to the 17 second mark.


View attachment 0704121908.jpg


cannon shot. - YouTube

 

View attachment 0705120846.jpg

 

Here is one I made 15 years ago

View attachment 20230316_215933.jpg

View attachment 20230316_220311.jpg

 

Not going to fire a ball out of mine. It’s just for looks next to the cannon, anyway. Got the knob made today and it welded on with 70s2 rod. Got it polished up little better too. Used a piece of sand paper while it was spinning on the lathe , my friends purple belt on the belt sander is pretty wore out but it’s pretty good now View attachment 78097C01-5C3D-4801-997F-41FB7B17E6B1.jpg View attachment C91B8A9B-449C-41A2-9760-848CCC187AC9.jpg View attachment 18559158-7EE9-425A-9159-8D04A128D61B.jpg View attachment F40F1947-627F-4E51-8155-17B96053EDE8.jpg

 

First thing I'd do after it was in a carriage is go proof it with a patched round ball and a big load of powder (from a safe distance of course).

Do you know what type of carriage you're going to make for it, yet?

Making spoked wheels might be a fun project.

This man has some great videos on wheel making if you're interested. https://youtube.com/@EngelsCoachShop

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I’d like to make it out of black locust but my locust is not dry. I was thinking making it out of a solid piece of wood. Might have to use a piece of oak or apple wood that is more dry at 16% moisture or less. I’m going to weld some pieces on the side of the barrel to let it pivot and maybe all thread with a wheel to lower and raise the cannon View attachment 9DF06E31-8151-40C2-B5E2-C200B4939CA5.jpg red oak that is rift sawn. Been seasoning about 2 years or so. Im still thinking the locust would look sweet but worried the half moon cut out may shrink too much. Here’s the locust View attachment EC587C76-C1CD-4BBC-B39E-A1C0FEB86B15.jpg

 

Well made my own fuse since I couldn’t find one anywhere and it worked good and burnt slow but it just went poof and no bang. Put about 2 grams of powder in. Maybe not enough powder or is that the wrong kind of powder??I packed the news paper in really hard and did 2 layers of it. Had to hammer it in View attachment 994426A6-AE24-4D2A-988C-F304DC23B782.jpg View attachment E80A2651-B2C7-4E17-A9A4-44BBB65677D0.jpg View attachment E7543405-DC29-4E47-A736-AFFA0A27C0D5.jpg

 

Since you're not shooting a projectile out, it's not going to build up the same sorta pressure as with a lead ball.

Try a 60 grain charge. I think that's 4 grams.

If that doesn't do it, try 100 grains.

If you decide to shoot a lead ball out, then I still think 30 grains is a good, safe starting point. I shoot 25 grains out of my .50 cal pistol with about that length barrel... then again, it's rifled, so I assumeit'd build more pressure than a smooth bore.

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Filled the barrel about half way and got a pretty good boom View attachment 80102A58-32C3-47E7-9CF7-C22E7FB2D7E7.jpg View attachment 4F0E48BA-0044-46CF-ABBD-A8AF883EFE4C.jpg

 

Filled the barrel about half way and got a pretty good boom View attachment 1754663 View attachment 1754665

or do it that way. LOL

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Another idea... get some big firecrackers. I think they're M1000 or M2000s. About 1/2" diameter. Figure out an easy way to fish the fuse out the touch hole and you'd be set.

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The fuse I made works really good. Burns slow too. Got about 10’ of it View attachment F167FC68-8DB4-4622-A4C7-8EF698D2D41F.jpg View attachment F38A35D6-7A19-4C1F-B6BB-E8519E6384F6.jpg now to work on the carriage. Going to drill the 5/16 x 1.3” chamber in the back of the barrel out to the full diameter of the barrel or a touch under so it holds more powder View attachment 1FC69469-73A8-4C80-9584-B801D6A05D50.jpg View attachment EDCBAFE2-241B-4021-AF0C-F249B101259B.jpg

 

Glad you had dozer there to protect you just in case. Maybe a screw in breach plug like on an inline muzzleloader

 

Gotta like a post that includes some John Deere green and yellow... I just use a little ether to get them going...

 

ahh, c'mon motto, its all in good humor. i actually jealous of ur project. dont worry - if anyone shows up, just act normal, tell them u did it for the kids, and apologize

 

dont worry - if anyone shows up, just act normal, tell them u did it for the kids, and apologize

Don't apologize... tell them to get off your land.

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Not trying to hijack Moto's thread, but I'm sure a lot of y'all are deterred from making a model cannon because of the inherent dangers involved.

I have a compromise... firecracker cannons!

Instead of a powder charge, you breach-load a fire cracker, light it, and you get a "salute". You can also stuff a lit fire cracker down the muzzle after you light the first fire cracker. Lauches it out and it goes bang mid-air.

A REAL toy for children. lol

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