Pirates rule! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

YaYaYa, but how many guys have there own cannon! I DO! Not one of those wimpy civil war carrage cork guns either.

We are talking an 8 foot demi culvern with a 5" bore. It uses 3500 grains of #F powder just for blanks.

We have set off car alarms from over two miles away.

Eat your hearts out!:p
 
Ron, too funny! I have a friend that has 2 cannons that fire 2" ball bearings using 1/4# of powder :eek: Sure is fun touching them off on old water heaters in the gravel pit :D We won't discuss the 100 mm mortar in which he fires concrete filled coffee cans :cool: Arrrrrrrgh!
 
Black powder cannons are very cool, and legal in the US. This is a good forum to talk about them in. If I didn't live in an apartment I would love to build a sundial incorporating a magnifying glass set to focus the sun's rays on a fuse to set off a cannon exactly at noon. I wouldn't be satisfied with just a noon discharge -- why should I have to be on the road to Mandalay to see the dawn come up like thunder???

Hmm ... the Fourth of July is coming right up ... fireworks are illegal in my state ... but cannons are not!
 
Hey, how about a pirate cannon that shoots oranges??? The only difficulty will be finding the right load for it ... my idea is to shoot oranges, not orange juice with extra pulp.
 
Originally posted by Cougar Allen
Hey, how about a pirate cannon that shoots oranges??? The only difficulty will be finding the right load for it ... my idea is to shoot oranges, not orange juice with extra pulp.
Click to expand...

Maybe one of those "Spud Guns" made to fit oranges? Personally, I never eat fruit and wear my scurvvy like a badge! Pirates are COOL!
 
Rumor has it when pirate in habited the Florida keys they would use Coconuts and Conch shells when out of balls. But we all know Pirates have plenty of balls!
 
The orange issue is easy. You just need to use canister shot. Think of it as early sabot. When you wanted to fire an irragular item it would be loaded into a "can" that fit the bore of the cannon. They used this setup for things like chain or grape shot. The can would catch in the air and seperate from the projectile. The bad part is that the shot becomes really unstable and inacurate. But unless you want the orange to have MOA you should be fine.


SAFETY NOTICE: When firing a cannon be it blank or load with shot. BE SURE AND USE CANNON POWDER! #F will work OK but cannon powder is the safiest. Cannon is much larger than even #F. It will burn slower. This allows enough building pressure to propell the projectile with out blowing the sides out.

I will try and get photos of my cannon up. I will also try to get photos of my 1/3 scale ship. No not joking about that one either!
 
Watched a 'Pirate' show with Geena Davis in it today...she makes me feel oh so 'Piratey'...lol ;)

OK R.W....I'll bite, "What's with the boat?" I mean, you 'do' live up in Corona. Expecting a flood or something? :p

Mel

p.s. Thanks for the ballistics info too...how much powder for a troll launcher though? :D
 
OK, about the boat!

Worked at a Renn Faire from 1985-1998. Worked with a group that did period sailor re-enactment. In 1988 the faire moved to a location with a large fishing lake right in the middle. Our group decided to build a couple scale ships. The larger one was built on the hull of a 28' cabin cruiser. We used these ships to stage mock sea battles once a day. The Griffen (the larger ship) was complete with 20 firing cannons, two fire bars, countless flashpots, a barrel the could be shot up 30ft in the air by a charge of compressed CO2. It also had 8 air ports just under the water line that could be fired off to spray water up in the air to simulate near misses. All effects were controlled from a panel near the back. Each cannon could be fired twice giving us the total of 40 blank charges. The boats were powered by 50hp outboard motors. The motors were hidden behind a false stern. When not doing the battles the ship was stripped of all effects gear and used to give boat rides around the lake.

The real cannon was fired from a dock during the battle. That was normally my job unless one of the pilots or effects controllers was sick. I got to the point that I could fire 10 times during the 15 minute show. Of coarse that was with a three man cannon crew and myself.

One year we got approval to stage this battle at night as a show for the faire workers. Man, that was fantastic. It is unreal how much flame we were throwing out over that water. The big cannon spit flame over twenty feet. When the flame bars were hit the ships really looked like they were burning up.

For a few years we also had a game the used CO2 powered cannons to fire tennis balls 60ft to a target ship. We later converted the air cannons to shoulder mounted weapons and charged them with back carried poney tanks. Of course that was done late at night when all the customers were gone and we were all more than a little drunk.:D
 
Outstanding post! What a hoot, man, I can almost see it! Too cool, and thanks for the well thought out 'esplanation' of what the boat was for...lol Right on! :D

Well, it would seem that with you and Spark, we have at least two bonafide 'pirates' here...lol ;)

Now, about the 'troll load'? I'm thinking 1/4 lb. of cannon powder would do...am I close? (I know, it all depends on the 'size' of the troll...lol)

Mel

Can't wait to see the pics too..."Avast there maties, strike the sails, a virgin laden ship lies before us..." Pirate'n sure sounds fun... ;)
 
Makes me want to get back into spud guns and such. Would love a functional cannon on the front porch! That would be cool as hell.
 
Naw, a 1/4 pound is only 1875 grains. Thats not nearly enough for a troll. You really need at least 2 pounds to send the troll anywhere :D. Of course its more fun to keel haul them.

The shows were alot of fun but the REAL FUN was after all the customers left! Combine every raunchy pirate movie you have seen with a Vegas strip club and you would have a fair idea of what our booth was like after hours:eek:. Every night was a party! The normal fair was lots of alcohol (not beer, but vodka, bourbon, whiskey, scotch ect), poker, really good cigars and countless pretty young ladies in little more than stockings and high heels. And those little ladies were always happy to have a warm bed to "sleep" in. We of course were the only group that acually had beds. Everyone else had to sleep out in a field in tents.

Every year we would build a 12'X24' building that was 19' tall. Lots of work but well worth it;). It had a 4' walkway down one side that ran the whole building. The other side looked like a beehive. It was a whole group of births. Each birth was 4' wide 4' tall and 8' long. These were lined up in three levels with each level having 6 births. The first two levels were for "crew" and it was first come first served, they also had to share two to a birth. The third row was for "officers". Officers did not have to fight for a birth as they were asigned and they did not have to share with other crew members. The senior officers got the top three births. These were 8' wide 8' deep and 7' tall in the center. The senior officers were each assigned a special job. One was in charge of all money, one was in charge of the boats, and one was in charge of the pyrotecnics. The last was my job for the last seven year that I worked there.

The back door of the building led to our private back yard. This held the captains trailer, the bar, poker tables and mess. It took about 30-40 of us four weeks to build this empire. But we had the best booze, the best parties and the hottest girls so it was well worth the effort for the 9 weeks that the faire ran each year.

Of coarse now I am too old to live that way every weekend. Not to mention married, which wipes out the number one reason to be there at all. I am just amazed that I made it out with all my body parts and nothing that needed medication.

I have to pull out my old photo albums and scan some photos so I can post them. I don't think I have any of the annual teddy contest (I ain't talking bears either), but if I do I will post them. I will have to find the best of a few thousand photos from over the years.

The only real draw back was that due to all the permits we had to have no drinking was allowed during the day. But when its 100+ degrees out who wants to drink:barf: .
 
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