A bronze cannon by me.

[george wilson]

You had better check out some books and read up,Leigh. You could get yourself,or someone else killed,and be in lawsuit land. I would never make any gun that was not safe to shoot. Too much chance that down the road,the gun could pass into someone's hands,who would think it was real,and would do something stupid,like break open a bunch of shotgun shells,and load smokeless powder,and blow the gun up. That has happened a lot. People don't know better,and use scavenged smokeless powder into antique guns often,and blow them up." Black powder only" is now stamped upon all black powder repros.

[Leigh Betsch]

Good advice George, there are a lot of people in the world that know very little about firearms. How about if I make the barrel out of a solid log, and paint a black spot for the hole? Just for pointing to make the visitors squirm. I'm just kidding. If I actually do get around to building something I'll do some research and either make something that is impossible to load up and shoot, probably a solid plug in the barrel, or a scaled down kit of some kind that is intended to be shot. I think I've seen some ads for black powder scale cannon kits. I've built a couple of black powder kit long guns, but I don't like to shoot them, too dirty and hard to maintain accuracy unless you clean them more than you shoot them.

[george wilson]

There are full size guns out there for sale.Dixie gun works offers cannon,but they get expensive. I knew a foundry in Newport News,Va. that cast their guns. They suspended a steel tube down the center of the mould cavity,and poured cast iron around it. That was a strong design. Oh yes,they welded the back end of the tube shut,too. It might have been a stainless steel tube. The foundry closed years ago. Lots of places offer guns,though. Google cannon.

[george wilson]

I'm not even advising this.I will mention that some guys on the Practical Machinist's Forum have made cannon by using thick wall seamless steel tubing. Say,2" bore,1/2" thick walls,3" outer Dia. BUT,they are machinists,and made a length of seamless tubing that they accurately bored out,heated up and shrunk fit over the last 1/3 of the length of the barrel. They threaded the breech,and put in a heavy steel plug.

I did not think the guns were attractive,but they said they were strong enough. I didn't say that,THEY said that.

[Zahid Naqvi]

George, as always your work is astounding. I think you should seriously think about compiling all the pictures and write a book. Each of your projects have an interesting enough story behind them. If not a printed book you should be able to put something together to create an online book. I am sure there will be enough readers/visitors to pay for the cost of running the website and the initial design.

[george wilson]

I wish I knew how,Zahid. So far,you are the only one saving the work by putting it into FAQ,which I am grateful for. I need to get a computer whiz,and make a website.

[Clay Thigpen]

That's really cool George you are a man of many talents. I'm a Civil War re-enactor and I'm around the field artillery a lot, the cannons you buy today come in full size and every size up to it. I'd say if you wanted to make a cannon I'd research the Swivel gun.

[Terry Beadle]

George.... now I see what you ment about grinding a chisel to 90 degrees. Hoot!

[george wilson]

Clay,I've thought of a swivel gun,but I would be restricted in where I could shoot it. I think a cannon looks nicer with a carriage,and I can get a bit away from it when it goes off!! I have a 1" bore cannon,which I made earlier,and which the big ones are scaled up from. It makes a 20' blast with 400 grains of powder,and a 1" ball bearing. It is turned from cold rolled steel. I shot a hole right through a 6" oak log with it.

[Clay Thigpen]

Now that's cool. I thought someone had asked about where to start for making a cannon themselves that's what the swivel gun was for.

Your right they do look a lot better mounted to a carriage. For the large scale ones I'm really found of the Napoleons. The old brass seems to have more of a resonance than the new one's do though. At one of the events I attended they were using an original that had been given the name "Satan" ( this was to echo the naming of Brigadier General Pendleton's four cannons from VMI that he named "Matthew","Mark","Luke",And "John") you could always tell it out from the noise of the others and it made you remember what it was used for.

Since you did a lot with Th C. work Down here in Georgia at Fort King George they have a nice little skiff outfitted with a swivel gun at the bow, and a bunch of them along the outer walls of the fort. They also have the large scale cannon of the same type as yours.

[george wilson]

Clay,I hope to hear my bronze gun resonate sometime this Summer,but with the other things I'm always doing,it may happen later.Especially as I can't lift the barrel by myself. Another problem is figuring out what to stamp around the muzzle,"Happy he who escapes me" has been taken.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hey George, Do you have a Federal firearms mfg license? An old friend of mine Henry Sostek in Beverly Mass who is an experimental machinist by trade has made cannon for years to sell. He's been lcensed for about 20 years. He sells to yacht clubs for salute guns and race starting and to the occasional collector. I saw a wonderful pair of brass replicas of 24 pounders, like on USS Constitution, that he did for a collecter in 1/4 scale. The test firing used half a pound of black powder per gun and it certainly drew the attention of the neighbors..... and the local cops.

[george wilson]

Dave,you do not need a license to make muzzle loaders of any kind.Not in the state I live in.I know that in some states,particulary in the New England states,you might not be able to have guns at all. I have a remote area where we can shoot anything we want,legally,even machine guns,though I do not have any desire to have one of those.You are only required to be so many hundred yards from other houses,or roads.Of course,for fully automatic weapons you must have a license. Too expensive in my opinion to enjoy a few seconds of noise while 30 or 50 rounds go blasting down range.

Now,anything over 60 caliber in a BREECH loader would be considered a destructive weapon. Muzzle loaders are entirely a different matter.

When the reinactors converge on Williamsburg every year,they always have an even larger gun than the one I made,and they fire blanks in it.

It would be foolish for me to publicly post any illegal items. I am fully up on the law.One of my friends holds an federal firearms license,and my former journeyman was also a gunsmith . Believe me,this topic has been discussed to death on the Practical Machinist's Forum. Dixie Gun Works,and a number of other sources have sold cannon from models up to full size guns for many decades.The only guns of any kind that you must buy through a FFL,which they sell, are breech loading cartridge guns,that are working replicas of antique rifles and pistols.In fact,you do not have to buy through an FFL original,still functioning cartridge firearms that are considered antiques,though ammunition for them may still be available. Dixie's cannon used to be cast right close to me in Newport News.

I have never made any cartridge guns of any kind. The guns I have made are more artistic in nature,and would be flintlock,or percussion type. I like guns,but the fact it,I seldom make them,because most of the work is endless polishing,which is the part I do not enjoy much.

[John Messinger]

Beautiful work! You've gotta shoot it on the 4th of July!

[David Keller NC]

Guys - George's alluded to this, but state laws vary greatly on what you can leagally own and shoot. In my state (NC), it's legal to own just about any gun (except for a fully automatic firearm - you have to have a Federal Class III license for those, and the local sheriff has to agree to it).

However, you cannot legally shoot a gun with large bores. In the case of cartridge guns, the limit is 1/2 of an inch. For muzzle loading black powder, I think the limit is 3/4 of an inch. Exceptions are made in special circumstances like historical re-enactments that do not involve a projectile, but you must have a permit from the local sheriff for the purpose.

The reason I bring this up is a fair number of people in NC got busted for making, possessing and shooting "potato cannons" back about 10 years ago when that was all the rage. Despite being fueled by the propane in hairspray, in the eyes of the law it was the same as black powder/cordite/smokeless powder.