I'm sure this has been gone over before but how many grains should a load be? In this case I have a 1 3/4 bore. I've been told what the old guys did is pour the powder until you couldn't see the ball and that was the charge. How many grains for a max load?
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cannon load
- Thread starter pipestone
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Treestalker
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Pipestone, please understand the old idea of pouring powder in one's hand to cover a ball was for rifles and Not artillery! There is a world of difference and a cannon is not a 'Large rifle'. Assuming you have a cast Iron barrel with a steel liner with a properly pressed and welded breech plug, a safe Blank load is considered to be 2 oz of Cannon size powder per inch of bore, IIRC. With a projectile I would cut that to 1/3 to start, and only with a cast lead projectile that rolls freely down the bore, under supervision. Please reference Matt Switlik's book The More Complete Cannoneer or contact the U.S. Field Artillery Assn. Ft Sill Ok, care of Arthur Street, President of the Loyal Train chapter (muzzleloading cannon) for excellent instruction before firing even blanks. Best of luck and be safe! :thumbsup: :hatsoff: Cpl.George Briggs 1st Ark.Lt Artillery, Ret.
Pete G
76 Cal.
I use about 750 gr, with a tamped newspaper wad for a 1.75" bore.
Poor Private
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I even use ffg, in my cannons. I just reduce the charge about 10-15%.
Pete G
76 Cal.
When I first put together my piece I was guessing at the load so we took it over to my cousin's house on the beach. The house is built up on pilings and we were beneath the edge of the back deck. I figured that if 75 gr of FF is a good load for a rifle, I would try 150. First shot was a rather underwhelming pffft. OK, let's double that; then we got a better, but still totally unsatisfactory PFFFT. Upping the load to 500 we started getting sort of a FOOM...approaching cannon grade but still not there. Finally bumped things up to 750 gr and rammed down about half a dozen paper towels for wadding. This time we got a rather resounding BOOOM which rattled all of the glasses in the kitchen cabinet upstairs, knocked the pictures on the wall crooked, the dog that had not heard anything in two years started barking, car alarms in the driveway started going off, and we set the grass on fire...in the rain. :shocked2:
OK, we're almost there. :wink:
Then the cousin leaned out over the railing and said "Don't do that again" :slap:
OK, we're almost there. :wink:
Then the cousin leaned out over the railing and said "Don't do that again" :slap:
Last edited by a moderator:
steam1993
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I use 2f or 3f in my 1.25inch bore cannon, max load 2oz. For live fire I use 1.75oz, makes a big bag. You should not need more that 2oz of powder. Have not tried 1f yet but do have a pound of it, and will try it soon.
There is appox 438 grains to a ounce
There is appox 438 grains to a ounce
Billnpatti
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Some years ago, I was an original member of a WBTS group located in Galveston, Texas.
We put on a reenactment of The Battle of Galveston. This was one of our first reenactments and we had invited a group from Georgia who had a full size 12 pound Napoleon cannon. Since the reenactment was to be done on the original site of the battle, it would take place on The Strand which is now one of the main streets in Historic Galveston.
We had told the owners of the cannon to use very light charges because of the location. I was crewing on that gun and we rolled it onto the end of The Strand next to an old hotel that was under renovation.
I don't know who made the mistake but our first load turned out to be a full charge of about a pound or more of black powder. the first time we fired the cannon, the concussion blew out most of the windows in the old hotel and glass covered the sidewalk next to the hotel.
Fortunately, no one was standing next to the hotel or they would likely have been cut to ribbons. We shouted to the "powder monkey" to not bring any more full charges.
We then rolled forward about a block, re-loaded and fired again. Again, the charge was waaaay too big and the concussion blew off several pieces of sandstone decorations from an historic bank as well as many of the glasses from the gas lamps along the street. That was the end of the cannon's participation in that reenactment.
I often wondered if we did more damage that day than the original battle did.
We put on a reenactment of The Battle of Galveston. This was one of our first reenactments and we had invited a group from Georgia who had a full size 12 pound Napoleon cannon. Since the reenactment was to be done on the original site of the battle, it would take place on The Strand which is now one of the main streets in Historic Galveston.
We had told the owners of the cannon to use very light charges because of the location. I was crewing on that gun and we rolled it onto the end of The Strand next to an old hotel that was under renovation.
I don't know who made the mistake but our first load turned out to be a full charge of about a pound or more of black powder. the first time we fired the cannon, the concussion blew out most of the windows in the old hotel and glass covered the sidewalk next to the hotel.
Fortunately, no one was standing next to the hotel or they would likely have been cut to ribbons. We shouted to the "powder monkey" to not bring any more full charges.
We then rolled forward about a block, re-loaded and fired again. Again, the charge was waaaay too big and the concussion blew off several pieces of sandstone decorations from an historic bank as well as many of the glasses from the gas lamps along the street. That was the end of the cannon's participation in that reenactment.
I often wondered if we did more damage that day than the original battle did.
