Cannon Paintball?

[sherpadoug]

I have a 3 pounder and I am interested in making some paintball like shot for it. I got some plastic firework shells from cannonfuse.com that should fit with a fair amount of windage. Winding them with string will let me adjust windage as well as add a little strength. Now I am wondering what to fill them with. I would like to see if I can hit the broad side of a barn without actually destroying the barn. Initial thoughts are:
Flour - may be too light
Talcum powder - may be too heavy or pack too hard
Tempra paint dry - like talcum powder with color
Tempra with water - liquid core adds new unknowns

First test shots can be fired out to open ocean before trying land targets.

Has anyone done this before? Any suggestions?

 

[Treestalker]

Sherpa Doug, sounds like fun! I have a model 1841 U.S. mortar barrel with about a 6&3/4" diameter bore that will fit a one gallon paint can with about 1" sticking out the front of the barrel, which weighs about 300 lbs. I have considered rebuilding this into a medieval bombard, capable of showering opposing forces with my choice of colors up to 1200 yards or so! :thumbsup: I doubt if any frangible casing will withstand the shock of firing, but the possibilities are tantalizing! :grin: Imagine painting a barn bright florescent orange at range! Good luck with your experiments, and please keep us posted! Cheers, Your fellow demented artillerist, George B. :haha: :haha: P.S. How about a cannister shot full of regular paintballs? :bow:

 

[Rockwell Torrey]

Is paint balls to on point an answer?

 

[sherpadoug]

Wow! I had never thought of canister rounds filled with actual regulation paintballs. I will have to try that too.

 

[Zonie]

Hopefully, you don't take this personally but don't forget to tell someone to hold your beer before you touch off your cannon.

This idea doesn't sound very good to me.

 

[Billnpatti]

So long as the cannister actually opens up well before any paint balls hit the barn such that the energy is spread over a large area of the barn, you just might get away with it. However, if the cannister does not open up in time and the whole load strikes the barn in a relatively small area, you might do some serious damage to the barn and have a repair bill on your hands. Just figure the mass of the shell and it's striking velocity and you can figure how many ft. pounds of energy that will strike the barn.

If you have any thoughts of ever using such a thing against living reenactors, stop right there. If you were to strike a reenactor, or any living thing, with an unopened or even a partially opened cannister of paintballs, they could easily be killed or seriously injured.

 

[Poor Private]

I just would hate to be the #2 man on that gun(one that cleans out that tube). Nothing like baked on paint in your barrel. Why don't you just fire a couple of spray paint cans. Watch them explode against a barn, along with the noise of the exploding or would they just go through the boards? Humm an interesting experiment. I don't think I would fire paint or out of my 1" bore swivel gun that took me all summer to make just so I could get the look of Odball in Kelly's Heros got. "Colors, pretty colors".

 

[sherpadoug]

This is strictly for target practice. What is the point of owning a cannon if you don't know if you could actually hit anything with it?

 

[ChrisPer]

Maybe 'load grape' with a paper bag of those perforated golf air-balls? bright orange and spectacular, y

Also, consider a discarding sabot rather than a canister. A well-shaped three-piece sabot out of balsa or softwood, with a small frangible ball like a well-chosen clay clod or a clay ball around talcum powder. For heavens sake, use it on a safe range with backstop though.

 

[sherpadoug]

Our "safe range" is to shoot out to sea (Cape Cod). That should give us 20 miles or more of space to play with.

 

[ChrisPer]

It sounds like awesome fun! :hatsoff: A three-pounder for a fun gun would be so good.

 

[flintlock75]

For target shooting I have used two 4x8 sheets of plywood nailed up to make an 8x8 target. I painted them white and drew rings on it like any target. Pretty easy to see 2" holes. this is what I used to calibrate my aiming tools and log book. you should be able to hit a target that size from at least 300 yards away. I started at 50 yards and worked my way out to 600 yards. AS for paint balls, tried that, no good way to do it. The shock of firing caused them to rupture and spray out the muzzle. Can full of liquid same thing. WE did find that making an undersize mold and using plaster of Paris to make a conical projectile and then wrap a few layers of paper machete to bring it up to bore size. just before firing wet the outer layer of paper and load it. we shot at a slab wood wall and when the plaster rounds hit, they leave a big splatter of white, they also will go through the wall. The destructive power of a cannon and ANY projectile should not be underestimated.

 

[trent/OH]

A sack of flour may very well ignite at the muzzle. Grain elevator explosions occur almost every year, and are never pretty. As I recall, once in my mis-spent youth I poured some flour onto a fire. It wasn't a very pleasant surprise.

Isn't a croquet ball just about 3 pounder sized?

 

[coloradoclyde]

The destructive power of a cannon and ANY projectile should not be underestimated.

Let's echo this one more time...just in case he didn't hear it.

 

[garra]

A grapefruit would be softer and make a nice splat.

 

[coloradoclyde]

 

[freekforge]

have you thought of chalk line chalk? i am thinking about making some chalk rounds to use like the marking rounds used in a modern m203.

 

[JeffG]

At 3 pounder,is your bore 2 3/4"? Tennis balls would fit nicely, and take a moderate charge. Maybe use a soup can sabot, cut lengthwise to the base so it falls away upon firing like a shotgun wad. The only 3 pounder I have is a coehorn and I never tried a marking projectile. Maybe a tennis ball full of oatmeal and tempura paint? :thumbsup: