Hern Revolutionary war howitzer

[bigbang1]

I am brand new to cannons but can't resist any longer.I wanted to get a full size cannon or mortar for possible reinactment but mostly just fun. I see Hern iron works makes a rev. war howitzer 3" bore 25" long 90# for $631.00 Since its so short would that be mounted on a carriage like a cannon or on a platform like a mortar And where would I get either, or plans to make either THanks in advance for any help :thumbsup:

 

[Powder Keg]

They were mounted on a field style carriage. I am working on geting plans from AOP now. Don said that they were incomplet but they will be a good start. That Howitzer is very simular to the king howitzer. It is a little bit longer though.

Good luck! Wes

 

[bigbang1]

Thanks Wes; With the size of the barrel I guess the carriage would have been fairly small and thus easy to handle, then and now. With the 3" bore would vegetable cans filled with concrete would be the ammo of choice. with the short smooth barrel would it have enough accuracy to be used in competition As you can see I know nothing and can prove it :winking:

 

[threepdr]

That tube would have been mounted on a field carriage. If I remember right the smallest howitzer that the Brits fielded was a bronze 24 pounder that had about a 5.5 inch bore size. The carraige would have been quite substanital with wheels 50 inches in diameter or so. The Hern tube is not really a copy of any particular gun. It only has the styling of a Rev War tube with a very undersized bore. I bet it would be fun to shoot though!

 

[John Taylor]

I never found that cans filled with concreet had much accuracy. They are cheep but I only hit a target once till I went to ball. The canon I was using was a 2" bore and I was using juice cans. I found a 2 LB fishing weight mold and made some lead balls then it started shooting strait. A 3" lead ball will probably be 6 LB and cost a lot to shoot. You might try making a mold and use concreet, might do better than the cans.

 

[rifleshooter2]

Here is a nice picture of a 8 inch howitzer you could just scale it down a bit [url] http://www.fortligonier.org/cannon.htm[/url]

Andy

 

[R-71]

I have been eyeing this tube also, has anyone bought and fired one of these yet? I like the small rev war cannons as I could load it in my truck and take to the range myself, something I am not doing with a full scale Napolean!! Plus it would look neat in my yard in front of my house on sentry duty!

Thanks, Dan

 

[David Teague]

They were mounted on a field style carriage. I am working on geting plans from AOP now. Don said that they were incomplet but they will be a good start. That Howitzer is very simular to the king howitzer. It is a little bit longer though.

Good luck! Wes

Hello Powder Keg,

Who is AOP?

My group in Alaska keeps thinking about a howitzer and building a carrige for it.

We too, are thinking about the Herns howitzer tube.

Cheers,

DT

 

[Powder Keg]

Here is there address. Don was very helpfull. I have the plans and the carriage portion is fairly complete. The barrel was lacking. I was supprised by a naval carriage that allows about 45 degrees in elevation. There are a couple of us that have been researching this barrel. We almost have the first model barrel draw'n up. If interested PM me, I can build you a barrel out of steel. I plan on casting some bronze barrels in half scale also.

Antique Ordnance Publishers
P.O.Box 610434
Port Huron, MI 48061
1-810-987-7749

 

[R-71]

Does anyone know what the outside diameter of this tube is? The length is 25" with a 3" bore. What size Carriage and Wheel should this have? I am trying to figure out just how big a piece this will be when mounted. Would one of those "Grasshopper" Mounts be the right size?

Thanks, Dan

 

[rexdevantier]

A lead ball is real heavy and you cannot use much powder in a 3" bore without a lot of pressure. Zinc scrap is quite cheap and makes a ball about the same weight as cast iron, which is what a lot of the original balls were made of.
Rex Dev.

 

[R-71]

Where do you buy Zinc? I've got a couple of hundred pounds of scrap lead, however I suspect it would get used up pretty quickly making cannon balls. I emailed Hern about the complete dimensions of the tube however i haven't received a reply yet. the website says its 25 in in length however I was trying to find out what the diameter of the tube was.

 

[GunneyG]

Zinc alloys are used in the die casting industry. Look for suppliers in the yellow pages; if you can't find a supplier, try for a die casting company--maybe they would sell you some of their metal.

ZAMAC is the trade name and there are a bunch of different ones with varying characteristics. Low melting point is probably the most important for a home cannon shot caster. And use only steel moulds for zinc; its casting temperature is uncomfortably close to the melting point of aluminum.

 

[Story]

So do you have any pics?

 

[Story]

Does anyone have any experience with this company's howitzer tube? (see bottom of page)
[url] http://www.cannon-mania.com/barrels-bronze.htm[/url]

 

[andrellj]

I never had any problems ordering from them, but I never bought their howitzer.

 

[Story]

Thanks. What did you buy and what have you fired from it?

 

[andrellj]

Small replicas. A 1:8 scale 6pdr. & a 1:10 scale yorktown mortar. The 6pdr. is a .50 cal. and the mortar is 1 inch. The rest are all non-functional. patched round ball in the .50. I couldn't find any one inch bearing's for the mortar yet but modeling clay in the form of a cylinder isn't too bad.