[NA] Cannon, black powder

Dude, you're in Texas. Isn't everything firearm's related legal out there?

I know a civil war buff in Illinois that has one.
 
Sorry, OP, I can't answer your question, but...

Many, many, years ago, while working to help pay for my pre-med schooling, I had a job as a driver for a metal industrial machine shop. The guys in the shop built their own black powder cannon, just about the size of the one you posted on ebay. One weekend morning, they decided to shoot it off...using (if I recall correctly) about 500 grains of black powder, and a large shop rag as wadding. KA-BOOOOOOM!!!! Holy cow was that thing loud! So loud, in fact, they immediately decided they should probably only shoot it once then hide it away in the shop. A few minutes after hiding the cannon in the rafters of the shop with a fork lift, several state troopers pulled into the shop parking lot, looked around, then left. Turns out, the Pope was actually visiting just a mile or so away at a large sports arena!!! YIKES!!!
 
Man, when I first looked at black powder cannons like the one advertised above, they were in the 60K range.

I may be jumping on this. I need something to annoy folks that play loud music until 2am. A nice black powder cannon at 6am may be bomb.!!
 
As long as you're talking about a muzzle loading black powder cannon, it should be legal. From memory, there are exceptions in the law for muzzle loading antiques and replicas of them. I think (please don't do something, get arrested, then blame me) that muzzle loading BP cannons should fall under these exceptions. Transportation shouldn't be an issue unless you try to haul it past a TSA agent at an airport.

Not sure about loading one. I know it can be done without projectile though. (Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine loads their cannon with spanish moss for wadding for their demonstrations).
 
Wikipedia entry on antique firearms says that any firearm manufactured prior to 1898 is exempt from Federal regulations. Also says the exemption applies to replicas.

Individual states may have different laws, of course.

We have a horse racing track adjacent to our airport that has a 4th of July fireworks show. I flew in the afternoon before a show once, and while taxiing back came upon this....
cannon.jpg
I suspect the owner had planned to fire it *during* the race track's display, so that anyone would blame the booms on the formal show.

Of course, a smaller one can be mounted on the aircraft.....
swivel gun.JPG
Ron Wanttaja
 
Yup, legal unless your local laws prohibit it.
Muzzleloading cannons manufactured in or before 1898 (and replicas thereof) that are not capable of firing fixed ammunition are considered antiques and not subject to the provisions of either the Gun Control Act (GCA) or National Firearms Act (NFA).
[26 U.S.C. 5845; 27 CFR 479.11]
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The owner of the company I work for has a brass cannon. They bring it out and fire it at the annual company meeting and whenever sales goals are met.
 
Zeldman said:
Man, when I first looked at black powder cannons like the one advertised above, they were in the 60K range.

I may be jumping on this. I need something to annoy folks that play loud music until 2am. A nice black powder cannon at 6am may be bomb.!!
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Asking prices on that sort of stuff are all over the place. If you want a legal noisemaker, look up "Thunder Mug" or "Sound Grenade".

Dave
 
There is a HUGE difference between cast iron cannons and bronze cannons. Cast iron cannons can fail and shatter into hundreds of lethal pieces, which is why an entire artillery crew would be killed in the civil war when one failed, but there was not a single fatality from a bronze cannon. Bronze is much stronger and if massively overloaded will tend to tear rather than shatter. But bronze cannons are much more expensive to cast, partly because gun bronze is much more expensive but also because there are casting failures due to the way bronze shrinks on cooling.

Here in Vermont you are allowed to fire a muzzle loading cannon anywhere that you can fire a gun unless there is a specific town ordinance against it. Years ago a friend and I cast 9 tubes out of Naval gun bronze then had them bored to accommodate a one pound lead ball, which is the same size as a golf ball. Here are six of them. We intentionally destroyed one of the nine by putting in 5x the normal charge and 5 lead balls, which did the job, because it was really a bomb rather than a cannon. (I made a display with the one we blew up.)



EDIT: I see now in the eBay description that the cast iron tube has a seamless steel liner, which is the right thing to do with cast iron.


Six cannons.jpg Six cannons.jpg
 

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bluerooster said:
Thunder mug; when typed into google, turns up chamberpot .o_O
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Yep - that too (and Thunder Box is another name for an outhouse). Try "Thunder Mug Cannon" or "Signal Cannon" in Shopping. In general the prices are insane - but there is one from etsy that is machined stainless and sells for $63.

Dave
 
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