1” Napoleon Canon

[Fisher]

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Black powder load

I build this all Steel HighPressure canon based on the 1857 US Napoleon. Scale 1:4.62 during the December/New Year holidays.
Caliber is 1.000”
Total weight is 130lbs, Barrel steel is Bohler M200, specifically chosen for smokeless powder loads.
Black powder load is 400gr FG propelling either a patched 25mm or naked 1” steel ball.

Accuracy 9”@110yrds. Velocity could not be measured, but definitely faster than sound barrier.

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Smokeless powder load.

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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Very nice. You said "all steel" but the barrel looks bronze in the first photo? Probably the lighting. Did you build it from scratch, or was it a kit?

[Fisher]

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Everything is steel, even the carriage. The barrel is painted to represent the brass barrels of the originals. Everything was build from scratch except the rear sights and the pins that hold the wheels on the axle. Took about 2 weeks from start to finish.

[onelight]

Great job ! Talk about MUZZLE FLASH wow

[Fisher]

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4 shot group shot at 100meter/110 yards

[Fisher]

Very nice. You said "all steel" but the barrel looks bronze in the first photo? Probably the lighting. Did you build it from scratch, or was it a kit?




Great job ! Talk about MUZZLE FLASH wow

Thank you very much!
It was quite a fun project to do, and I was greatly rewarded with the way it shoots.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

My hat's off to you, sir. You are a good craftsman and whale of a good machinist! Nice job.

[Wheelguns 1961]

Very cool! Great job!

[bmortell]

why couldn't velocity be measured? are you gonna try again it would be cool to know ft/lbs. and that seems like a lot of work for 2 weeks, good work

[Cast_outlaw]

I have a similar cannon but a mock up of a British man of war deck gun I’d only feel comfortable using a high speed camera to get velocity as the muzzle blast is massive especially with black powder and unless someone had a chronograph they did not minde being accidentally blown into bits if I hit it I’m not going to try we estimate mine Shoots a 3 3/4 oz 1” lead ball in the neighbourhood of 1000 FPS with 275gr Ffg black and around 5300ft/lb of energy
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[tbx-4]

Well... I couldn't understand why such a little cannon could weigh 130 lbs... Till I saw it all in the white and you did say it was all steel, it just didn't register till that photo.

Impressive project!

[Fisher]

why couldn't velocity be measured? are you gonna try again it would be cool to know ft/lbs. and that seems like a lot of work for 2 weeks, good work

I tried the LabRadar, but there is just to much stuff flying around that it fails to pickup the bullet.

For two weeks I pretty much did nothing else....

Here are photos of a hard steel plate 12x12” x1/2” thick,shot at 50yards. It passed through another mildsteel 5/16” plate at 25yards
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[Winger Ed.]

Cool.

Now ya need a all steel, scale, siege or coastal defense mortar to go with it.

[Fisher]

Cool.

Now ya need a all steel, scale, siege or coastal defense mortar to go with it.

I made a 30mm 1/5th scale coehorn based mortar bofore I dit the canon, now planing on a fullsize mortar, and oneday a full size operational 3” Ordnance Rifle, that will definitely not be all metal...

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[leebuilder]

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Nice work!!! Good accuracy too. How's the recoil?
Mines 7/8 bore, only use wool socks for projectiles. I use 400gr fg. Nice bang to bring in the new year!.

[Winger Ed.]

It's do-able.
The folks over at Graybeard's out doors helped me a bunch when I built a all Steel bowling ball mortar a few years ago.

I bought a ordnance rifle awhile back and built a new oak carriage for it. The barrel is 3" schedule 120 oil field pipe with a 2" bore.

[Fisher]

Joh! Very impressive Winger Ed!

[Fisher]

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Nice work!!! Good accuracy too. How's the recoil?
Mines 7/8 bore, only use wool socks for projectiles. I use 400gr fg. Nice bang to bring in the new year!.

Had it out on 330yards, accuracy is bad compared to rifles, but good enough to often hit a car size target, - on scale thats about good enough to hit the broad side of a barn @1700yards with a full size 12pdr Napoleon :p

Recoil is not much deu to the sheer heft compared to size, unfortunately posting videos to demonstrate the recoil is a hassle ....

[725]

Well done!!!!!! I bet it's fun.

[Winger Ed.]

Joh! Very impressive Winger Ed!

Thanks bro.

Remember; who ever has the most toys when they die---- wins.


When going down the road, nobody tailgates when they come running up and see the cannon looking at them.

[cmh]

That looks like a blast!!!!! Have always wanted a cannon..... and can a scaled down one would be awesome. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gunslinger1911]

Nice !
A friend of mine acquired a 1" bore "ship cannon" - think what you see in pirate movies, but only about 2 feet long .
Being the group caster, I got tasked with feeding it. After a fruitless search for 1" lead balls, I found a "cannon ball sinker" mould that cast 4 different size balls - one of which was a nominal 1". Actually ends up approx 0.96".

With his bore, bare ball rolls down bore, thin patch takes slight pressure to ram home.
Just a blast to fire - pun intend242030242031ed.

[cmh]

[emoji848][emoji848] steel barrel? That’s a neat cannon!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smoked turkey]

Now guys those cannons are very very cool. I would travel a little distance to see one of those touched off. I can't explain why I would like one of these (especially to the wife ), but for some unknown reason I do. For practical reasons I would go with one that is a more available caliber such as a .58. I know you get more bang for your buck with a 1" however!

[15meter]

I tried the LabRadar, but there is just to much stuff flying around that it fails to pickup the bullet.

For two weeks I pretty much did nothing else....

Here are photos of a hard steel plate 12x12” x1/2” thick,shot at 50yards. It passed through another mildsteel 5/16” plate at 25yards
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With the steel plate do you have anything coming back at you? I have no problem banging away at steel with lead, steel on steel scares me. I've whacked a few anvils over the years and seen the rebound of a 3 lb. hammer. I suspect a 1" steel ball at 1000 fps is generating a whole lot more energy then me and my hammer.

Lead just splatters, fall straight down or at most comes back 5-6 feet depending on the size slug and how solid the target is.

[Gunslinger1911]

Smoked Turkey,
Midway carries Traditions cannons in 50 and 69 cal. Yea, smaller but muzzle loading balls are every where.
I have my eye on the Mountain Howitzer.

[BigEyeBob]

I have engineering drawings of a ships cannon ,from the US Constitution , 1/10th scale ,I would like to build some time in the future . Drawings call for brass ,but getting the correct brass alloy could be a challenge .Maybe steel coated with Ceracote would be better.

[Fisher]

With the steel plate do you have anything coming back at you? I have no problem banging away at steel with lead, steel on steel scares me. I've whacked a few anvils over the years and seen the rebound of a 3 lb. hammer. I suspect a 1" steel ball at 1000 fps is generating a whole lot more energy then me and my hammer.

Lead just splatters, fall straight down or at most comes back 5-6 feet depending on the size slug and how solid the target is.

That was a consern in the beginning, but for some strange reason if you are lucky enough to get a fired projectile, you usualy get it with in just a couple of feet from the target. I recon about 200 shots have been fired with the cannon, but I cannot remember ever hearing a recochette. The plates are not fixed to anything, they topple over like silhouette targets, maybe that helps to eat up the energy in the projectiles, I don’t know why they behave the way they do...

These balls were recovered in the burm, the one that has broken in half hit a steel deflector plate that sits at about 40 degrees.
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[samari46]

I have about 4' section of 40mm anti air craft gun barrel sitting in the garage. Been there for years. Bore well lubed. Would like to make up maybe a mini Napoleon out of it. But with a twist, instead of a wheeled carriage maybe a civil war naval carriage. Brcause of the alloys used in these barrels you cannot weld on them without a lot of pre teatment and post treatment of the metal. So all attachments have to be threaded on. And either fuze or pull primer ignition. Frank

[Fisher]

Now guys those cannons are very very cool. I would travel a little distance to see one of those touched off. I can't explain why I would like one of these (especially to the wife ), but for some unknown reason I do. For practical reasons I would go with one that is a more available caliber such as a .58. I know you get more bang for your buck with a 1" however!

In my brief investigation on what caliber to build the gun, I found that a 1” is the largest caliber you can shoot fairly cheap if you buy steel balls at a ballbearing supplier, my lead stash is just to valueble to sacrifice for cannon fodder.... It work out about $2.80 a shot 1/2for the ball and 1/2 for the black powder (you get 17shots from a pound of FG), with smokeless it is quite cheaper to shoot as you get around 80 shots on a pound if pistol/shotgun powder.

[Fisher]

I have about 4' section of 40mm anti air craft gun barrel sitting in the garage. Been there for years. Bore well lubed. Would like to make up maybe a mini Napoleon out of it. But with a twist, instead of a wheeled carriage maybe a civil war naval carriage. Brcause of the alloys used in these barrels you cannot weld on them without a lot of pre teatment and post treatment of the metal. So all attachments have to be threaded on. And either fuze or pull primer ignition. Frank

You Lucky FISH to have that barrel laying around!

Don’t waste that barrel on a smooth bore cannon! Rather build a 1/2 scale 10pdr Parrot rifle or better still an 1/2 scale 3” Ordnance Rifle with that.

The Bohler 200 steel I used also is an issue to weld, the trunions fit into sinked holes on the barrel, and a breach plug made of the same steel, the removable plug helps allot when cleaning the barrel and clearing obstructions.

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[john.k]

You can get steel balls scrap or free from an excavator rebuilder.....catch is you have to go with the size thats used in slewing rings...........

[Markopolo]

I think it would be fun to shoot a big pile of lead shot out of the 1 inch gun.. maybe double 0 buck??? I can’t imagine the spread and damage... they used to shoot all sorts of nail, and overall junk in those things... why not buck?

[RED BEAR]

That looks fantastic what a great job. I used to build cannons in high school machine shop until administration got wind of it. And had to cut them in half. Made me bring in ones i already made and cut them in half to. I would have tried to keep some but they had a list of material i had purchased from school.

[SSGOldfart]

WOW that's awesome great job.

[Winger Ed.]

I used to build cannons in high school machine shop until administration got wind of it. .

Kids get ripped off now days.
In Woodshop, we could buy the hardware kit, make the stock, and build a 75 pound draw strength crossbow.
The guys in metal shop could make a 1/4" bore naval cannon that you kicked off with firecracker powder, and fired a ball bearing.
The Electric shop would let you make a shock box that triggered when picked up, was so powerful that it'd almost stop your heart.

They also offered a power mechanics class.
There you could rebuild and hot rod/trick out your go-kart or motorcycle engine.


In most schools, they don't even have shop classes any more.
Maybe they fill the time with discussions on flower arrangement.

[Fisher]

I think it would be fun to shoot a big pile of lead shot out of the 1 inch gun.. maybe double 0 buck??? I can’t imagine the spread and damage... they used to shoot all sorts of nail, and overall junk in those things... why not buck?

I so wish I could send the slow motion video... I wil try some screenshots...
Load I use is about 2 1/2 oz steel bb’s roughly 190 balls
Cannon was elevated about 3 1/2’ on a shooting bench, first pellits hit the ground about 10 yards away and the last dust that was kicked up was just about past 50 yards. Made me realize that a full size Napoleon loded with grapeshot must have been devastating!

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[Gunslinger1911]

I made up some grapeshot for the 1". Wrapped tin foil around a 1" dowel, folded one end over, filled it with 00 buck - 15 or 20 if I remember.
BOOM !
Spread was maybe 10' at 30 yds - way bigger pattern than we thought it would be.

[ulav8r]

In my brief investigation on what caliber to build the gun, I found that a 1” is the largest caliber you can shoot fairly cheap if you buy steel balls at a ballbearing supplier, my lead stash is just to valueble to sacrifice for cannon fodder.... It work out about $2.80 a shot 1/2for the ball and 1/2 for the black powder (you get 17shots from a pound of FG), with smokeless it is quite cheaper to shoot as you get around 80 shots on a pound if pistol/shotgun powder.

Would be a good use for zinc wheel weights.

[samari46]

Fisher, actually bought it off a gent on the greybeard outdoors cannon and mortar forum. I'd have to do the math to figure out what 40mm actually is though. Imagine slugging that barrel. Probably get a good 3' maybe a little more. My lathe only has 40" between centers. And the steady rest will only do about 3" so once the bbl has been trimmed all the work has to be done by the tail stock. Was going to get a big B7 stud and cut it back to use as a breech plug that is removeable and set up somewhat like the Whitworth breech loading cannon. I had pics from the above forum but my old computer crashed and don't want to have that happen to this one. Think the 40mm barrels were rifled with a gain twist if I remember right, but if it comes to pass round balls will suffice. Frank

[Cast_outlaw]

So I have a 4 ball mould 1” for cannon balls for my cannon I will measure them later to know exactly what size they are if any one wants I will make them some and ship with spurs on (easier to pass off as fishing weights I live in Canada) in trade fo equeal weight of replacement lead coww or lino/mono type if any one is interested

[Fisher]

So I have a 4 ball mould 1” for cannon balls for my cannon I will measure them later to know exactly what size they are if any one wants I will make them some and ship with spurs on (easier to pass off as fishing weights I live in Canada) in trade fo equeal weight of replacement lead coww or lino/mono type if any one is interested

That’s a nice gesture.
While you are at measuring, would you mind weighing one of them in COWW alloy?

[popper]

I made a small ship board type cannon/carriage and a 'pirate' pistol in HS autoshop. Used octagonal cold rolled. Use rifle powder (or what ever stick powder the LGS sold us in a paper bag) and wood dowel as projectile. Friend tried it with ball bearing that got stuck and broke the cannon barrel in half. It was NOT a smooth bore.

[Cast_outlaw]

That’s a nice gesture.
While you are at measuring, would you mind weighing one of them in COWW alloy?

They measure .994 nominally and weigh 1404gr average in coww as that’s all ever cast in have around 2500lb ow coww currently with more on the way so I’d be interested more in Linotype as I having difficulty finding it in my town

[Mr_Sheesh]

40mm = 1.57"