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What do you have for a cannon?

8K views 62 replies 26 participants last post by  dvuyxx 
#1 ·
With the 4th almost here it is time to clean the cannon and get ready to wake them up at the yacht club! Ha! Hoping for thick shore fog so they won't know what the hell is going on.

"Downeast" is an interesting place. In very eastern Maine they talk about deer season as the three weeks of the year when the fine goes off, just to give you an idea. At our Perry, Maine farm we celebrated the 4th by firing a "cannon" at the Loyalists across the St. Croix River in St. Andrews, NB. Just to rub it in!:D We had many friends there who expected the display and welcomed it in the spirit it was intended.

I still have the "cannon" and will be celebrating this year here on Mt. Desert Island. I called the police and asked about my plan. The chief, in a text message, assured me that if no projectile is involved it will be O.K.. They have never witnessed a firing but seemed to feel a little calcium carbide generating acetylene would be harmless enough.

Well! I expect they will change their minds but not until after I manage to set it off two or three times. Fired out over Seal Harbor it will garner wide attention.

Cannons are common sailboat race starting devices. We have all heard them. Usually a 10 gauge blank. Sharp and loud enough to be heard over the water. Anybody have one?

My cannon is a 10 gallon milk can with a press on lid. A quart of water in the bottom, add a small measure of calcium carbide, gently press on the lid and after waiting for the carbide to generate acetylene touch a flame to a 1/4" drilled hole about 6" from the base. BOOOOOM!!!! Tie a long Amsteel lanyard to the lid and paint it a bright color so you can find and retrieve it for the next shot. It has been compared to a couple of sticks of dynamite if you get the acetylene / air mixture timed just right. We bury it in sand at the beach at a 45 degree angle and aim it away from habitations.

The yacht club party will notice! (I am a member. At least for now!)

How many other cannons out there? I would like to mount it on the boat but haven't come up with a safe design for a mount.

My son has advised me to record ALL reactions on video.

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#3 ·
I used to have a cannon.
It was bronze, about 2' long, and it had a 1 1/2" bore. Had a really nice wooden carrage with four wheels. We used to shoot potatoes out of it.
I don't have that cannon anymore.:D
 
#6 · (Edited)
I hope not! :eek: This isn't an experiment. It is a tried and tested method for making loud noises. :D Some of the carbide cannons out there are mounted on tandem trailers and produce a spectacular report. A milk can is at the bottom of the ladder. ;)The Sweeds and the Germans have turned it into an engineering art. I haven't seen one mounted on a boat yet. Perhaps the Avon with a spark plug for an igniter?

The press on lid isn't necessary. I will use a piece of plastic tightly secured around the neck of the can.

No awards for this. Just some simple, loud, 4th of July fun.

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#10 ·
Long time ago, me and a couple of other boys launched a 55 gallon drum 300 feet in the air using calcium carbide and water method. Lost hearing for several hours.
For a boat cannon I use my 26.5 mm flare pistol and re-loadable blanks.
 
#13 ·
I've seen a nice cannon made from a prop coupling.



The dude poured in black powder, and dropped a golf ball in. Stuck the fuse in through the set screw hole. Used a sandbag to adjust elevation and windage. He would shoot it out over the bay.

It was great fun.

to watch.

from a distance :)
 
#17 ·
Kriss, 26.5mm is an odd caliber for a flare launcher. Is it war (or East Block) surplus? I own a 25mm launcher and flares for that (especially the longer duration parachutes) can be hard to find. I have an aluminum tube insert for mine in order to launch the more common 12ga flares. Even with a WWII surplus brass launcher, I’d be hesitant to use a more energetic propellant like smokeless or black powder. The ATF had an interesting article reporting on the dangers of using a 12ga insert to fire shotgun shells. The rest of the “gun” is pot metal and was prone to exploding into shrapnel when firing a shotgun round. Our club uses 12ga black powder signal rounds for race committee. They fire a plastic wad, which is plenty dangerous on its own. As for larger caliber ordnance, our club has a pair of fixed mount signal cannon flanking the flagpole, which we use ceremonially at noontime on Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Across from us is Coast Guard Island and they do a 21 gun salute with their signal cannon. At night, after the fireworks are finished, we hear a lot of gunfire coming from the Oakland neighborhoods. When the Lady Washington or Hawaiian Chieftain are down for the Master Mariners, we will fire a “broadside” as they pass the race dock. They in turn, respond with a broadside of their own.
 
#19 ·
Kriss, 26.5mm is an odd caliber for a flare launcher. Is it war (or East Block) surplus? I own a 25mm launcher and flares for that (especially the longer duration parachutes) can be hard to find. I have an aluminum tube insert for mine in order to launch the more common 12ga flares. Even with a WWII surplus brass launcher, I'd be hesitant to use a more energetic propellant like smokeless or black powder. The ATF had an interesting article reporting on the dangers of using a 12ga insert to fire shotgun shells. The rest of the "gun" is pot metal and was prone to exploding into shrapnel when firing a shotgun round.
Yes, that is a surplus East Block caliber (my pistol is Polish and it is very well made, to military specs with proper steel barrel and locking mechanism. The inserts are not made to fire regular 12 ga rounds (chamber is shorter). But they are perfectly safe to fire our 12 ga flares - have done it many times with expired flares. These pistols are not built for firing 12 ga shot shells UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES as the locking mechanism is too weak for that! I make 12 ga blanks using a small charge of regular propellant and a full size wad to hold it in place. I have done it for years without affecting the pistol's integrity.
 
#20 ·
Yep! Lotsa 26.5mm stuff here, and while most is E block; some even made in Germany and Austria. Mines Czech. Very rough and simple....soldier proof.
I am considering setting my 75mm "mortar" ( don;t worry... BP only, fuse lit and only for signals and marking! ;) ) on the foredeck and launching a few pyrothechnics. While it was made for launching soup can "marking" rounds", it easily does double duty sending up commercial 3" 'mortar' displays.
 
#22 ·
We have the replica Hershoff Cannon ( named Buster) at our club and it is used for many club functions/ races. Fires 10 gauge black powder shells and has quite a loud report.

Herreshoff Saluting Cannon

Every late October, after the two boat shows the males in the club take a weekend on a few of the sailboats and do our " Bash to Windward" which constitutes a sail down to Annapolis (4 hours) on a Saturday anchoring in the harbor, followed by a tour of a few pubs, followed by a ADVIL aided sail home the next day.

A few years ago someone snuck "Buster " aboard for the ride. After quietly taking up a mooring, someone decided to "signal" the start of the festivities with a cannon shot.

At 8:00 PM and very loud boom shook the harbor followed by almost every car alarm in the parking area next to Ego Alley going off. Within minutes the Coast guard, Navy and Marine police were scouring the Harbor for the rascals. ( Some of us had already dinghied)

They boarded the boat with " Buster " on board by couldn't find him. We had snuck him off under a blanket in the lead dinghy. Needless to say they were pissed by had no real evidence. We stashed "Buster" in the churches graveyard and picked him up later on to a return trip to the boat at midnight under cover of darkness.

The next day the CG came by and pulled alongside, lectured us about the noise, and the proximity to the Naval Academy and the increased security for 9/11....and then asked us if we had a good time.
 
#23 ·
Well done! What was the "complaint"? It made them nervous to hear a loud noise!

Some friends with a civil war brass 10 pounder spent the day signaling the launch of Apollo 11 at the end of the road on the outer beach of New Smyrna. Firing cement filled juice cans into the Atlantic. They had it on the back of a flatbed truck. Good ol' boys! I have wanted a cannon ever since! The cape guard shack was a couple hundred yards south. No security even came to see what we were doing. Times have changed.

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#24 ·
Kriss, Deltaten, I like the look of your East Block launchers. And apparently on the internet you can buy flares for it. Couple of questions: Are the flares USCG or SOLAS approved? And, how in or out of date are the flares? I’m thinking in terms if I could use the launcher as part of my safety gear on the boat. I see a lot of adds for different colored flares (I don’t think the green ones are a SOLAS color). The Blue smoke is kind of cool (not sure the ability to call in a Su-25 air strike is all that useful in an emergency situation :eek:). It has been more than a few years since I cracked open an ordnance or explosives text book and I can’t think of the equation for calculating the pressure produced or the burn rate of smokeless powder, let alone the strength of the hinge and locking mechanism of an East Block launcher – Be careful on how hot you’re making those reloads!
 
#32 ·
Kriss, Deltaten, I like the look of your East Block launchers. And apparently on the internet you can buy flares for it. Couple of questions: Are the flares USCG or SOLAS approved? And, how in or out of date are the flares?
I have not been able to find any USCG or SOLAS approved flares in the 26.5mm. I keep on board an assortment of red, white, and smoke flares - all as a backup only to my current USCG approved 12ga flares. I shot some really old (1950's) flares (bought really cheap at a local gun show) and never had a failure to launch or ignite. Last box of surplus flares I bought on the internet was about 10 years old. You can always ask the supplier about the age of the flares, but I am not sure it matters a whole lot as these flares are really good quality. And they are A LOT better in terms of visibility (brightness, launch altitude) and burn duration than our 12 gauge flares.
 
#25 ·
About 50 years ago I was apprenticed to an old blacksmith who was about 80 years old at the time.
He said that when he was a kid the farmer boys would bury an anvil upside down in the dirt and fill the square hole in the bottom of the anvil with black powder with a fuse.
They would then put another anvil on top right side up and light the fuse and run.

The problem was they would never know where it would come down as it could not be aimed.
Once it came down through the barn roof. Apparently it got launched pretty high.

I figure that experience had to be about 100 years or more ago. The anvil weighted probably a hundred lbs or so.

The old timers knew how to have fun.
 
#26 ·
Thane carries my home made cannon, cast in gun metal, inch and a sixteenth bore (about 101 cal) I run thru about 50 dollars of black powder a month (business expense) I found that it just vaporized Dsized batteries so now I shoot wads of toilet paper as I'm big on recycling. I'm firing on the Adventuress on You Tube 'Thane sail past' I regularly have running battles with the Oriole under sail (Can navy training vessel) and the SALT's vessels . l no longer fire close to the harbour because the cruise ships think it's an terrorist thing. No sense of humor..
 
#27 ·
Capt Len,

Don't tell anybody but General Motors truck drive shafts are extruded and make great cannon barrels! Black powder and frozen juice cans. A friend builds a small building out behind his garage every year and we have a "BLAST" blowing it away! I have revealed, too much!;)

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#29 ·
The recurring trouble with home made explosives is the pattern to make them bigger and bigger and bigger, until someone gets hurt. Same with backyard fireworks shows, it seems.

Knew a guy whose July 4th show over the lake was legendary. He competed with a neighbor for best show. The last year he did it, he had built a launch platform and wired the display. He blew himself up in the process.

I have my grandfathers signal cannon. It's firing days are long passed, but sits in my apartment, pointed out over the city in a defiant posture.
 
#31 ·
George B;

No, the 26.5's are not recognized as 'proper' emergency devices. I usta buy direct from the importer at a better price than usual sources. I sold off most of my stocks at a small margin and kept enuff of a selection to be interesting. With the price increases in gun/ammo related items, cost per shot has risen from $3.00 to sometimes nearer $6.00.
Usta be able to get red star, green star, white star, red triple, white parachute, blue smoke, gray smoke (? limited) and orange smoke. Feels like a lite weight 12 ga going off one handed. Most will go vertical near 5-800 feet and burn out before coming down; but the core is still hot and *will* start fires in dry conditions.

I would imagine that any of the above would get the attention of emergency services or whoever in dire circumstances. That they have no expiration date codes is irrelevant as long as assistance arrives ;) Save the 'official' dated stuff for inspections :D
 
#33 · (Edited)
We used to call some of you guys "Job Security" down at the Fire Dept. :D
A ten gallon carbide cannon, I'm speechless. :eek:
I wonder if you wouldn't get a bigger fireball but less boom without a lid.
BTW Those 12 ga flare guns are a pathetic joke, if you were sitting in a life raft on a dark ocean the first time you shot one off you'd be SOOOO disappointed.
 
#42 ·
You are right to think about it, people have been arrested for dumber things by the ATF.

I called the police and asked about my plan. The chief, in a text message, assured me that if no projectile is involved it will be O.K..
You should consult with a lawyer, not your local PD.

For starters, many of the laws and regulations aren't enforced on a local level and, even if your local PD says it's ok, they aren't going to provide for your defense if you get arrested by another agency (ATF in particular). Many of the laws and regulations around certain types of weapons are not straightforward and you'd want to talk to someone that has an intimate knowledge of them, which a local PD is not going to have.

Also, they aren't entitled to keep their word and not arrest you. At -LEAST- call your local ATF office. I'd do all of the above, it's worth the time, the penalties can be harsh.
 
#36 ·
Minnie;

Consider a few words to 'google'.....
signalling device, smooth bore/black powder/fused only, non-fixed ammunition. not readily available ammunition, no longer in production ammunition, marking ammunition and/or charge, non-anti personnel, and a host of others that don;t immediately come to mind ;)

While a 10 ga blank is not considered anti-personnel, there are probably some statutes about their use. 10 ga sporting rounds are commonly available for goose and duck loads. IIRC, 10 ga blanks firing devices would not be sized correctly to chamber sporting rounds. YMMV

AFA "legality"????
Only hafta worry about fire and noise ordinances. As long as it's a signalling device and not readily convertible to AP ammo.

"Hold my beer and watch this!" can be famous last words or the beginning of an afternoon of fun. Yer choice! :D
 
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