Hand cannon project

[Questing]

Mom (Mother Nature) must love us. We've had 4 dogs, and too many birds to count. And they have all been close to us. You know what the local kids miss most about school Cor19 closures? Meeting Mia and I at the school bus stop every morning!
We have a good neighborhood watch..........

Eons ago we used to take 8-10 Hawaiian punch cans, leave the bottom on 1 and lids and bottoms off others. Drill a hole in bottom, put an old spark plug in, it duct tape them all together. 4 drops of lighter fluid and a push broom handle for a ramrod. And a tennis ball. Would go several hundred yards. They were steel cans so lots stronger. Dry cell battery for ignition.

 

[toadboy65]

Tennis balls seem to have a range limit. I shoot them out of my howitzer and regardless of the powder charge, they max out around 200 yards. The balls actually flatten out like a pancake when shot and more powder just makes them nosedive straight into the ground faster. It's like they get to a certain point and then hit the brakes. Maybe if you filled the center of the ball with spray foam to keep the ball from flattening it might fly farther.

I had heard of using tennis balls filled with sand, but foam is a good idea. I bet in the end I will end up casting custom projectiles.

 

[toadboy65]

I spent the last day or so inletting the stock. I am using walnut, because that is what I have that fits. I had assumed that cutting the wood to fit the lathe work in the barrel would be fairly simple, but I was mistaken. The first time, I figured the centerline too high, so I had to go back and cut the grooves again. Once I got the stock inletted for the barrel, I ended up cutting away much of the wood I had spent so much time on. In the end, I only need the bottom third of the barrel radius covered. And it is weird to work with a stock that needs to be three inches wide at the muzzle end.
I will get some images tomorrow.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I believe that our artillery uses a tennis ball partially filled with flour and a 60 to 70 grain charge of black powder with a 3 second fuse sticking out of it. The ball is loaded on the powder with the fuse up. The flash of the main charge blows by the ball and ignites the fuse. When the cartridge explodes down range, the cloud of smoke generated from the flour is quite impressive.

 

[Carbon 6]

I had heard of using tennis balls filled with sand, but foam is a good idea. I bet in the end I will end up casting custom projectiles.

The recoil from a lead ball that size will likely be unmanageable and dangerous to the shooter.

 

[toadboy65]

lead ball

By "casting", I meant casting out of urethane, probably. I have looked at some sources for how the original projectiles were constructed, and I would not attempt to fire anything heavier than that.

tennis ball partially filled with flour

I have a bunch of cans of colored laser toner powder. I stored them away, with no specific plan for their use, but something along those lines would be pretty dramatic. I guess I would need to ensure that it is not flammable first.

But mostly, I just want the dog to associate the noise and smell with something fun to scent and chase.

 

[Carbon 6]

I have a bunch of cans of colored laser toner powder. I stored them away, with no specific plan for their use, but something along those lines would be pretty dramatic. I guess I would need to ensure that it is not flammable first.

I wouldn't use them.
https://www.scientific.net/AMR.508.122

 

[MSW]

we've had a stock dog for as long as we've lived here … on our first Great Pyr, one of the kids decided that it would be a good idea if the dog were to learn to play fetch in her spare time … securing an appropriate stick, she ensured that the dog was watching and threw the stick with great enthusiasm.

no response: pooch continued to hang out with the herd.

Kid: GET THE STICK!

dog: checks out the herd, walks over to stick, sniffs at stick, and returns to work. gives kid "the look-" if the stick is so all-fired important, why did you throw it away?


you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometime
you just might find,
you get what you need

 

[toadboy65]

Kid: GET THE STICK!

dog: checks out the herd, walks over to stick, sniffs at stick, and returns to work. gives kid "the look-" if the stick is so all-fired important, why did you throw it away?

Getting the dog to fetch is not an issue. In the early morning, when he sees that I am awake, he brings me a toy or ball to throw from my bed.
When I am working in the shop, he will "hide" a ball near me when I am not looking, and watch me expectantly until I stop what I am doing, find the ball, then throw it. At night, he does the same thing while we are winding down and watching a movie. When we are on the boat and the water is smooth, I can throw a bamboo stick, and he will jump in, retrieve it, then climb back into the boat, although he often needs help with climbing back on. If we are not throwing things for him, he searches for balls and toys in the fields. He comes back with baseballs I lost when I was a kid. He is either fetching, or asleep.

But anyway, here is where I am today-

It is still super chunky. The next stage is just whittling away with finger planes, incrementally getting rid of the bits that don't look like a gun. It is never going to be spindly and delicate, because the lock has to be offset so far from the centerline. Also, it is heavy.
I did got an image today that does not show the gun very well, but does show my supervisor-

More later-

 

[hawkeye2]

From the smile on his face I can see your dog is anticipating you getting his ball launcher in action soon.

 

[Nazgul58]

Getting the dog to fetch is not an issue. In the early morning, when he sees that I am awake, he brings me a toy or ball to throw from my bed.
When I am working in the shop, he will "hide" a ball near me when I am not looking, and watch me expectantly until I stop what I am doing, find the ball, then throw it. At night, he does the same thing while we are winding down and watching a movie. When we are on the boat and the water is smooth, I can throw a bamboo stick, and he will jump in, retrieve it, then climb back into the boat, although he often needs help with climbing back on. If we are not throwing things for him, he searches for balls and toys in the fields. He comes back with baseballs I lost when I was a kid. He is either fetching, or asleep.

But anyway, here is where I am today-
View attachment 32353
It is still super chunky. The next stage is just whittling away with finger planes, incrementally getting rid of the bits that don't look like a gun. It is never going to be spindly and delicate, because the lock has to be offset so far from the centerline. Also, it is heavy.
I did got an image today that does not show the gun very well, but does show my supervisor-

More later-

Looks like my buddy Gus.

 

[Story]

@toadboy65 So what ever became of this?

 

[toadboy65]

Thanks for the reminder. I have not got around to engraving yet, but it is functionally finished, and works great. I have a couple of observations:

The bore diameter is critical. I originally had a very tight squeeze on the racquetballs, which I though would help. The problem was that the pressure of the powder ignition sort of flattened the ball, so it tumbled in the air, and did not travel very far. I bored it out to about .002" under the ball diameter, and now the balls seem to have optimum range. Too much, really. With 30gr of Black powder, the balls seem to pretty much fly off into infinity. I had to reduce the charge to 10gr, and It still travels 150 yards or so, even holding a steep upward angle. I have yet to find the balls I shot for max range, but it was like watching a cartoon. They just kept rising and getting smaller until I lost sight of them.

Originally, I used rawhide wadding to protect the balls from heat. This proved to be unnecessary. commercial racquetballs don't seem to be damaged at all. There is a little scorching, but it seems entirely cosmetic.

This was my first flintlock, so I had a great deal to learn about adjusting the frizzen and getting the flint positioned properly. I am still not at 100% reliability, but I am getting there. And the dog is very happy. I will take and post an image of the finished project when I can.

T

 

[CumberlandRiver]

Love the Brittany. I have one too.