Swivel guns

[satx78247]

Truthfully, the 2-pounder (or less) swivel guns don't have much more recoil than a 4-bore BP shotgun.

Otoh, having fired a FULL-POWER 4-bore double some years ago, that recoil out of a >16 pound SxS scattergun was (according to a college chum, who was a Golden Gloves Cruiserweight boxer) "about as much fun as going 10 rounds with George Foreman" in his prime.

That makes THREE of us.
(I'm planning on having a "ship's gun" of

 

[Canute Rex]

The Philadelphia swivel is mounted on a wrought iron yoke of 1 1/4" square stock. (Real wrought iron - forged it myself out of an old bridge part) The yoke has an inch and a half diameter pin on the bottom that goes into a hole in an iron strap that straddles the gunwhale of the boat. It has a welded-on bearing ring to keep it from dropping down in. That takes the recoil. On land we had it stuck in a big log.

The cascabel has a piece of iron looped around it that is bent to go straight back, with a wooden tiller attached to it. That's good for rough aiming. It isn't a bench rifle.

Originally the ball would go over and under a wad. Small shot would be in a bag or later in a metal canister.

Interesting detail: The original Philadelphia yoke had a small Y of iron on the breech side of the bearing ring, apparently to keep the barrel from tipping up all the way. We copied that exactly. What's interesting to me is that the original Y is missing one of the prongs. Our Y had one prong break off within weeks of being installed on the boat. We copied the under-engineering.

 

[Alden]

Aim? "'twixt the wind and water."

 

[colmoultrie]

Cannon Mike had a 1" swivel for under $600...





5 drams of Fg for blank loads makes a quite satisfying demo.

 

[Marplot]

I've got a slightly bent lantaka, does that count as a swivel gun or is it cheating

This one looks like a real Lantaka swivel gun

 

[Commodore Swab]

A couple smaller swivel guns I've built

 

[Marplot]

Well done!

 

[BCarp]

Went a slightly different route…

 

[andy52]

When I was doing the bicentennial with the Corp of Discovery in 2000 we had one mounted on the bow of one of the boats.
We were traveling down the Monguhella to Fort Pit and fired it as we came into the pier. About a minute later there were about four suits waiting for us to tie up, they introduced themselves as Secret Service agents and we were told not to fire any type of weapons for the remainder of our stay there which was two days.
The reason was that Al Gore was having a rally there the day we were leaving, needless to say, we didn't fire the cannon or our muzzleloaders for those two days....

 

[Commodore Swab]

Went a slightly different route…

Interesting. Was the bridle added to the lock? It's hard to tell by the picture, what size is it?

 

[BCarp]

Interesting. Was the bridle added to the lock? It's hard to tell by the picture, what size is it?

It’s one of these, with a longer barrel than shown in the pics. The lock came with that bridle. My friend who fabricated the swivel yoke also refinished and “de-farbed“ the ‘buss.

https://militaryheritage.com/musket24.htm

 

[Rob M.]

100 gr. of 2F and a hand ful of whatever round ball you happen to.have on ya. My swivel gun , she ain't pretty but I made her for less than a hundred bucks and she goes BOOM !! 1" bore . I was at steel shop buying DOM for gun barrels and notice a piece of 1" bore , heavy wall DOM laying by the bandsaw ...they sold it to me cheap ...I had my buddy make a breech plug for it b, then another Buddy welded on a rat tail.handle and trunnions on the sides . It aint pretty but works great . I want to make several.mounts and put them on my porch and make a mobile one too for rendezvous . Ive only fired it a dozen times probably . I.like it ... I'll take pics of her if anyone is interested ....

 

[Rob M.]

The $70 swivel gun ! LOL ! She aint pretty but shes fun ! 1" bore , 20" long barrel , heavy wall D.O.M. tubing ...

 

[davec2]

I've built four of these...here is an old post about one I made for my nephews.....
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/241735/post/800356/hl//fromsearch/1/

I just saw that the pictures from my 2009 post are not visable...part of the old dust up with the PhotoBucket clowns. Anyway, here is a repeat....

I realized, about two weeks ago, that my two nephews up in Washington State don't own a cannon! (By the time I was their ages, I had several.) So I dusted off one of the 1 inch bore barrels I had made some time ago and tucked under a bench. I added a monkey tail and a yoke and whipped them up a neat little swivel gun to mount on the rail of their boat dock. Ought to be great for ringing in the new year and on the fourth of July (or just repelling borders on the dock!)

 

[davec2]

I just saw that the pictures from my 2009 post are not visable...part of the old dust up with the PhotoBucket clowns. Anyway, here is a repeat....

I realized, about two weeks ago, that my two nephews up in Washington State don't own a cannon! (By the time I was their ages, I had several.) So I dusted off one of the 1 inch bore barrels I had made some time ago and tucked under a bench. I added a monkey tail and a yoke and whipped them up a neat little swivel gun to mount on the rail of their boat dock. Ought to be great for ringing in the new year and on the fourth of July (or just repelling borders on the dock!)

View attachment 296595View attachment 296597View attachment 296599View attachment 296600

Split wooden pattern I made to cast the barrels:

 

[davec2]

Split wooden pattern I made to cast the barrels:

View attachment 296603View attachment 296604View attachment 296605

 

[BillinOregon]

Now I am curious about pattern testing these with various sizes of buckshot. Good gosh they would seem to be a "barrel of fun."

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

"Cannon Mike had a 1" swivel for under $600..."

I used to have one of Mike's swivel guns, with a proper yoke. Had it for about twenty years. Great fun! Finally sold it to a gentleman in Virginia to assist with a "property line dispute." I miss having it on the 4th of July.

ADK Bigfoot