Cannonballs - anyone cast them?

[colonelhogan44]

My buddy came across a 3 inch howitzer. You can only shoot so many tennis balls and d-cell batteries (:redneck:) before you're longing for a solid ball.

Maybe this would be a perfect use for those darn zinc wheel weights?
:2 drunk buddies:

[Chicken Thief]

Soup cans filled with concrete?

I got a beer can mortar and do just that. Fill cans with cement for boolits. So in essence you could say i cast my ownhttp://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Blandet/Smilere/img.gif

[white eagle]

use round down rigger weights

[Jack Stanley]

Somewhere , someone , sometime ago had a group buy going on for zinc cannon ball ammo .

They were going to loan their mold to a foundry who was going to cast , sell and ship the balls which were hard enough to use over and over again .

I thought it was in the group buy page but don't remember .... sorry .

Jack

[deltaenterprizes]

Do a Google search for AAAmunitions, Don should be able to help.

[imashooter2]

Somewhere , someone , sometime ago had a group buy going on for zinc cannon ball ammo .

They were going to loan their mold to a foundry who was going to cast , sell and ship the balls which were hard enough to use over and over again .

I thought it was in the group buy page but don't remember .... sorry .

Jack

Rotometals at the top of the page. They are zinc and 2.667 inch (soda can) diameter.

[colonelhogan44]

We need 3 inch, unfortunately.

[Shiloh]

Beer can mortars used beer or pop cans filled with sand and sealed with paraffin or roofing tar.
The paraffin runs into the sand a bit and seals real well.

Maybe you could try a modification of this.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

Beer can mortars used beer or pop cans filled with sand and sealed with paraffin or roofing tar.
The paraffin runs into the sand a bit and seals real well.

Maybe you could try a modification of this.

Shiloh

[trk]

Take a look at the blackpowder mortar and cannon forum on Graybeardoutdoors.com (or GBOcannons.com ).

You need to know the exact ID. Then allow 1/40 the diameter for 'windage'.

[-06]

Do not get too fancy with your shooters. I have heard there is an ATFE limit on the size of a barrel/projectile. You can permit them if my memory is correct. I have a wee launcher myself but it is not capable of anything other than making noise. Don't want the alphabet crowd involved in my life.

[trk]

Know the law. Federal, state and local.
Pre 1898 designs and replicas are legal - look it up.
ATFE is not an organization you want to cross - that is to say, do it right, know the law and keep within it.

[chboats]

You need to talk to these guys

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=97538

[John in PA]

post your question on the N-SSA web board, artillery section. You need an exact dimension. Original guns had around .035" clearance ("windage") projectile to bore diameter. There's an inquiry there now for zinc 3" balls.
http://n-ssa.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=24&sid=d20b65f541118985fcb0aa46f885b2fb


Also, South Bend Replicas used to have a connection with a guy who made reasonably priced aluminum ball molds to spec for casting lead balls. I think the guy's name was Mathisrud, first name Jim, maybe(?). the alloy he used was not suitable for zinc alloy casting due to higher temperatures required but worked fine for lead.

[JIMinPHX]

This sounds like a good application for lost wax method casting. I'm not up on all the particulars, but the gist of it is something like this - First, make a ball of the appropriate size out of wax, then pour something like plaster or cement around it. Then, after the shell hardens, melt out the wax. Then pour in the lead.

I think that the original process (Romans) had you then smash the mold to recover the cast metal, but if you were a little careful & made the mold 2-part, it could probably be reusable.

[geargnasher]

Much of the fun stuff is illegal now, or permitted into submission. Sighhhhhhhh......

Gear

[quilbilly]

3" sounds like about a 32 oz cannonball sinker but it could be a 48 oz. We use those for halibut fishing here and the molds are available. Just don't put in the brass eye and you have a cannonball.

[bohica2xo]

A 3 inch lead ball should weigh 40,530 grains - or 92.64 ounces.

I don't know if there is a sinker mould that big, but sand casting is certainly possible.

How do you feel about steel slugs?

B.

[beanflip]

My 48 oz cannon ball mold puts out a ball that measures 2.450.

This link might help:


http://www.lilmacmolds.com/Commercial_Cannon_Ball_Molds.html

[The Double D]

I think we have some one casting 3 inch zinc on www.GBOCannons.com. Come on over and join us.

Rotometals is casting popcan diameter zinc round ball for us right now. I am working on getting a golf ball diameter round ball mould made for zinc. When I get that it will be lodged with Rotometals also.

[Southron Sanders]

In the N-SSA Mortar Competition is very popular. The target is usually a stick downrange. The trick to win is who places their mortar balls closest to the stick.

Google up Joe Tanner. He is in England but can make you up round ball moulds in almost any size (including mortar and cannon). I ordered a pistol mould from him and had it in less than a week.

[Houndog]

Give Stan Wiedner a call at Wiedener's shooting Supply. He has a civil War Parrot rifle. (a cannon with a rifled barrel) I'm sure he can put you on the right track.

[timkelley]

About 30 years ago when I lived in Anchorage I used to go out toward Wasilla to watch a guy shoot a Cannon. He used Holy Black, newsprint for wadding, and balls made from Plaster of Parris(sp?). The balls flew straight but not too far and if they landed in a soft spot could sometimes be used again.

[XWrench3]

if i had a cannon, i would cast them, that is assuming i could find enough lead. right now, it is getting pretty tough for me to find.

[Chainsaw76]

How about using concrete to cast round balls? The ball has to have a cloth of paper wadding any right? I think that would be pretty cheap wouldn't it?

I don't have a cannon but would like to build one. Due to costs, I'm guessing that the bore would have to be between 1.5" and 3.0" to be worthwhile and affordable.

are there any cannon ranges in Texas?

jim

[WILCO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MxxdMSGif4

[salpal48]

. I have a 1 lb french Model 75 recoilless Black powder Cannon. . it is 44mm. . ( golf ball size0 ) shoot 1 lb. round lead sinker very well. also will take 40MM Conical surplus projectiles
20 ' wheels 1/3 scale
I get them @ my local Fishing and bait shop

[Blackwater]

All I can say is from an onlooker's experience. A friend once had a 1.5" scale model cannon, and cast lead balls for it from the above mentioned downrigger wt. molds. He and a friend reamed the bore out and did a pretty fair job of polishing it out. Then I think they used about a film canister full of 1F, IIRC, and after having fun shooting it into some big pine woods, he walked down just to survey what those little 1.5" lead round balls had done, and when he came back, he had a very clearly worried look on his face. Those RB's had cut down 50' tall pine trees, and not just one per ball, either. It'd go through one, glance off at a small angle, hit another further away, cut or damage it, and would continue until 5 or 6 trees had been cut, damaged, or felled completely.

So be MUCH more careful with them than you would with a regular high powered rifle round. They take a LOT of stopping before they'll come to rest. Awful lot of fun, though, as long as you keep it safe, and don't wind up going to jail or prison for negligent homicide. No first time cannoneer I know has fully realized what they can do until AFTER they really see it. Concrete balls may shatter when hitting something, but they're no wussy loads either. Just the muzzle blast from a blank charge (like in a salute) would easily cut a man in half at close range.

Great fun, but ONLY if you respect them, and I mean a LOT!

[Steve Steven]

MANY years ago, a guy I knew who was in a N-SSA cannon team (drink can size smoothbore gun) asked me to machine them a "pellet style" projectile similar to a .177cal pellet but BIGGER. I did, they cast up several, and invited me to go along with them to try them out. To make a long story short, they mis-aimed the cannon, and two of the first flew over the backstop and into the pine forest about 300 yards away. What those did to the trees, was phenomenal! One went right threw a 12" dia tree, glanced off next, lost track of it. Other went through several small trees, cut down one. They were trying to recover the lead, those were HEAVY.

Steve

[truckerdave397]

I have a inch and a half bore cannon. I just shoot blanks by using inch and a quarter doll rod and about one forth of a red shop towel for packing. Doll rod goes about 100 feet and turns into tooth picks.

[Foto Joe]

I happen to have two cannon ball molds but I lack the cannon, my wife put her foot down. Once mold is a 2 1/4" 3 pounder and if I recall the other is an 8 pounder but I don't have a clue as to the diameter. Although the molds are in Wyoming and I'm in Texas, if anybody is interested in them I could probably get them shipped out by my brother. PM me if you're interested.

[shaggybull]

How about filling the tennis ball with plaster of Paris or concrete

[oldfart1956]

Long ago 2 brothers-in-law with a curious nature (and not much common sense) decided to build a cannon. It involved a fence post driver, a welder and black powder. Which at the time was reasonably affordable. Cannon balls warn't much available then but one of the fellers had done some casting in metal shop in high school and cast his own roundballs fer muzzleloaders. A trip to the hobby store found some Styrofoam balls of appropriate size and by burying them in tight packed sand and a filler hole made with a dowel they were soon casting said cannonballs....and downriggers for Raystown Lake. The Styrofoam vaporized when the molten lead hit it and whallah..instant large round balls. Nevermind the poisonous vapors they inhaled and might explain some of the baldness and mental incapacities they now have. Or it could just be old age. I'm just sayin' is all. Audie...the Oldfart..