# Who's into Cannons?



## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Just got into blackpowder cannons (or blackpowder substitutes). No projectiles. Just packed newspaper for pressure over the powder. Lots of noise. If you are in to it, any tips, suggestions? How is yours set up? Here's my set up, although this vid shows a friend with his - same as mine.


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

What bore diameter is your cannon? Some of the guys in the muzzleloading club I belong to have one inch cannons. They will make a "cartridge" out of aluminum foil and fill it with powder (depends on the noise desired) and then close the end of the foil. After the cartridge gets tamped into the bore, they use damp newspaper to pack on top of the load (seals better). Makes a lot of noise too. When they have the actual shooting competition, they use 150 grains of cannon or 1F black powder and a 1 inch round ball (lead) to shoot at the targets that are 25 yards away. Some of the guys are pretty good shots too.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Bore diameter is 1.25". We've been using 4 *ounces* of Pyrodex FF or other leftover blackpowder substitute.

I don't follow the foil cartridge idea, DW. Please elaborate, if you will.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

I think he's saying that if you roll the powder up in foil and drop it down the barrel you can then poke a hole through it with a wire(inserted through the hole you put your wick in) then your wick will be in the powder and it will be packed for a better, more even ignition.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

I can see how that would be more uniform. Thanks, YD.


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

Yep, that's what they do alright. That way they make up there charges ahead of time and it is just easier to load that way, according to the guys that shoot them.

Just find something (wooden dowel) that is slightly smaller diameter than your cannon. Roll some precut tin foil around it with the foil going past the end. Fold the foil over the end and pull out the dowel. Fill with powder and fold the end closed.

How long is your cannon? Just wondering how you decided on 4 ounces.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks, DW. Saw the technique on YouTube the way you describe it. The cannon is about 3 feet in length. A friend, who had a similar cannon used the 4-oz. charge, so we've done it, too, although about half that amount is pretty good. When my buddy built the last one, we wanted to see if his welds would hold up on the chrome-moly steel, so we had to find out. No problems so far. I guess the reason we settled on 4 ounces of powder is that we like big booms - the bigger the better.

My buddy built a really cool looking rocket, which was actually a tubular sleeve with pointed cone and fins for stabilization in flight, that fit right over the cannon. A 2-oz. charge blew the welded cone off the rocket and the cone-less sleeve went about 20 feet. I was going to put it on YouTube, but my friend (the inventor) didn't like the idea because it was a flop. Sure was funny, though.


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## dwtrees (Mar 5, 2012)

The reason I asked how long your cannon was, is the guys in our muzzle loader club have short ones, 12 to 14 inches long and only use 150 grains of powder. I was just thinking that you were wasting a lot of powder cause it wouldn't get burnt up in a short cannon. But yours is 3 feet so maybe your not wasting powder for the bang you get.

You should load it up with the 4 ounces and put a large piece of paper in front of it at about 5 to 6 feet and shoot it. See how much unburnt powder is on the paper and then adjust your load until there is very little powder on the paper. That would be your optimal load for your cannon length.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

That's the kind of help I was looking for! Thanks, DW.


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