Building a cannon

[Indianabugles]

I have been most fortunate recently to have acrued a favour that will allow me to have a cannon barrel fabricated, yes fabricated, not cast. This will be a tru life replica only but will be solid and strong enough to practice cannon drill on and as a display peice if....
had to be one so here it is.
The barrel and mounts are sorted but it is building the trail is a major problem. I do not have the money or skill to build the wheels for a start and certainly cannot afford to have them made or for that matter afford a solid lump of wood to construct the thing.
There had been however a solution presented which I would consider and it WILL affect the type of barrel I decide upon etc.
The solution was to build an offset A fort style mount as shows up in pics, but this presents it's own set of problems, moving being the least.
I had toyed with the idea of building a naval, slab sided style mount as in a few fort guns but had to ask did these still appear and what types were they?
The same types as the field guns but on a different mount?
Or totally different Naval only types?
If they were the same that would be fab as we could eventually move the barrel to a new mount once we had the money.
Hope you can help as a cannon, even for practice only would be amazing!
The naval one would be best as it would have wheels that would allow some movement.
PS. some sort of Parrott is my initial idea.

[Marine Mike]

Re: Building a cannon

Is this barrel going to be of a specific type such as '41 Mtn. Howitzer or is it non descript? The '41 Mtn Howitzer is one of the few designs that were used by army and navy as it could be moved and transported by hand. Plans for the Prairie Field Carriage are available from Dixie Gun Works. Put in 'Mountain Howizer' in the search box at their site and it will pull up manuals and diagrams they offer for sale.
Navy and Marines had the light and medium Dahlgren Boat Howitzers that used a boat carriage without wheels on launches and cutters and then transferred to a 3 wheeled land carriage designed to be dragged by 12 men. The early land carriage main wheels had wood wheels and the later ones had iron. A book for the Dahlgren BH is on-line as a Google book wiht 'Instruction for Naval Light Artillery Afloat and Ashore' or you can buy a hard copy of another book called 'Naval Howitzer' by LtCmdr Edwin Barrett from Pt. Columbus Museum. http://civilwarnavalmuseum.com/ Go to Store, then Living History Uniforms.

[Indianabugles]

Re: Building a cannon

That is the question Mike, as long as it not a massively complex taper and return such as a Dahlgren gun then I am free to decide. He can make it with a taper and a round end as long as it is under 14 inch at the thickest end. However you raise an interesting point about non descript, could it reasonabley be a non descript barrel and still be NUG as long as it fitted within a sensible size/bore ratio.
Thanx for the heads up by the way and it has also brought up images of several non descript naval guns. Maybe I should just make one of these asnd do a land cannon later when and if funds were available. Would Naval style guns have been used in the forts?

[Marine Mike]

Re: Building a cannon

The confederacy used many federal naval guns captured at Norfolk in land based fortifications but these were of heavy caliber. Mortars and Howitzers of sizes that were designed to be handled and transported by small groups of men would not have sufficient range for most fortication duties though they might be used by attacking forces in taking a fortification. Both types would use shell or shrapnel and the howitzers would also use canister. These were anti-personnel type weapons, not for knocking holes in fortifications or ships. Artillery known as guns or rifles would be firing the solid rounds which would be shot for smoothbores or bolts for rifles.
A choice in these smaller guns have several advantages for the reenactor especialy cost. Cost of purchase, cost of care and feeding, cost of transport. The coehorn mortar can be served by a very small crew, is probably the lightest user of powder and can fit in some car trunks/boot. The appetite for these range of cannon will be a couple of ounces to 1/2 pound powder. Local restrictions may limit how much powder you may have in posession or bring to an event which will limit how many time you get to fire it. Small guns also gives you a chance to build a group of individuals that would be willing to donate toward the purchase of a larger piece.
The coehorn mortars were usually bronze if federal and usually iron if confederate. The federal 1841 Mtn. Howitzer was bronze but the confederate Tredegar Iron Works made copies in iron. The Dahlgren BH were bronze but I know of some reproductions in iron.
Naval guns were fired with percussion primers though could also be fired with friction primers or lacking those the slow match. Army guns would use friction primers and resort to slow match if they had run out of primers. The choice of primers over the match is you have better control of when it goes bang. Slow fires and hang fires are not conducive to accuracy or safety.
A number of these guns have also been built in 1/2 or 1/3 size so a compromise could be establish on showing something of a big gun but with cost management. This would be another option you may wish to explore.
To keep this thread alive you'll need to talk specific types used during the ACW as there are other boards for non-descript. The guns I've mentioned can be found with Wikipedia and the write ups a fairly good.

[Indianabugles]

Re: Building a cannon

I have built a 3/4 size 8" mortar as seen on wikipedia and several other sites, again a non firer but good demo/practice peice. We have an issue here in the UK with what we are alowed and anything over a 2" bore (Live fire) is a no no. But as mine is a non firer I can make it any bore and can 3/4 scale it, I wouldn't want to scale any less. I will got and read now before I do any more. I am now sure that I am going to do a naval style gun as there is no easy compromize. You have been much help indeed.

[Dale Beasley]

Re: Building a cannon

Guys,
-Building you own cannon, or fabricating one, be careful.
-I am not attempting to insult you, I just have treated numerous Marines and Soldiers who lost their fingers, thumbs and hands, and they were professional in what they were doing.
-And I would not want you to lose any hands or fingers or both for a hobby.
-If you think it might be dangerous...it probably is.
-Be careful.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Building a cannon

Hallo!

Moderator hat on...

According to AC standards, please keep the discussion to reproductions of originals, and take the "scale" and "non descrpt" off line or to boards where that is part of their hobby culture.

Thanks.

Curt