Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => Off Topic => Topic started by: Stoker on July 19, 2019, 06:33:35 pm
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This is awesome Daniel!
How far will the bowling ball travel?
How much powder do you put in the charge?
Did you build it?
Hiya Charlie
No, I didn't build it, but the guy who did build it seems to have done a very nice job of it. He built a few just like it, very few I gather. It is built to a fairly close look alike scale, except for the bore which is seriously oversized to accommodate bowling balls. Which means of course that nothing denser than a bowling ball should ever be shot in it.
The chamber is capable of holding a bit more than 1/2 pound of power, which I have made it a rule never to exceed, from a cost standpoint if nothing else. It actually lobs a ball nicely at 1/10 - 1/8 pound, while a 1/4 pound starts to be rather impressive, and you don't have to walk so far to pick it up, nor look so hard to find it. However, when there is a gathering, it seems nobody wants to dink around with the smaller charges, and just want to see it go out of sight up into the sky, and then try to spot it as it comes back down some 3/4 of a mile or more down range. Oddly enough, even though you do lose sight of it going up, you can hear the finger holes whistling for the whole flight.
Something around 1500 yds is the longest shots I have fair confidence in, certainly a long 1400 yds has been confirmed.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
The Pawn Stars crew had one on their show:
https://youtu.be/elq47kCGugE
And this is a good video of another one:
https://youtu.be/ouBNaKnNeRw
They have an impressive ammo cache. 🤠
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This is awesome Daniel!
How far will the bowling ball travel?
How much powder do you put in the charge?
Did you build it?
Hiya Charlie
No, I didn't build it, but the guy who did build it seems to have done a very nice job of it. He built a few just like it, very few I gather. It is built to a fairly close look alike scale, except for the bore which is seriously oversized to accommodate bowling balls. Which means of course that nothing denser than a bowling ball should ever be shot in it.
The chamber is capable of holding a bit more than 1/2 pound of power, which I have made it a rule never to exceed, from a cost standpoint if nothing else. It actually lobs a ball nicely at 1/10 - 1/8 pound, while a 1/4 pound starts to be rather impressive, and you don't have to walk so far to pick it up, nor look so hard to find it. However, when there is a gathering, it seems nobody wants to dink around with the smaller charges, and just want to see it go out of sight up into the sky, and then try to spot it as it comes back down some 3/4 of a mile or more down range. Oddly enough, even though you do lose sight of it going up, you can hear the finger holes whistling for the whole flight.
Something around 1500 yds is the longest shots I have fair confidence in, certainly a long 1400 yds has been confirmed.
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This is awesome Daniel!
How far will the bowling ball travel?
How much powder do you put in the charge?
Did you build it?
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I did manage to hit a spot of damp clay once and had to dig down about four feet to recover a seemingly well greased ball. ;c)
Never had a ball go deeper than about one diameter (8") into the ground in the volcanic material in Adobe Valley where I usually go to disrupt conscious thought!
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Nice impact! 8)
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Ever show up at a bowling alley with that?
No .... and I'm not welcome at golf courses either .... go figure!?!? ;c)
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Ever show up at a bowling alley with that?
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The balls generally survive when I do my shooting out at my place in Adobe Valley (a misnomer that) as it is just full of volcanic ash with occasional rocks of obsidian rarely as big as a fist, more commonly the size of a finger joint. There are some other shooting sites used for gatherings, that have rocky hills downrange, and the balls have a much lower survival rate at those sites.
A typical impact out in Adobe Valley:
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0093_zpsoh3fnz6b.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0093_zpsoh3fnz6b.jpg.html)
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0094_zpsljaj2va4.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0094_zpsljaj2va4.jpg.html)
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That's really neat! Do the bowling balls stay in one piece - are you able to reuse them? Looks like great fun.
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Feel the thunder!!!
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That’s great!
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Holy Jumpin Jehoshaphat Daniel ,that thing is incredible, I knew to shoot a cannonball it had to be big.....but Wow, that is cool.
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I like that.
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Impressive thing that one...
Thanks for sharing !
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Me like that. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
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Just got home from a morning of blackpowder pistol shooting at the club, so I've sent your video to a few of the members who I shot with today.
We only use 20grs of BP and 20grs of filler (polenta etc) in our .44-40's for the sake of being more competitive (accurate) for the 60 shot match, its also more
pleasant on your wrist. It was only 4° Celsius this morning and very still, we could hardly see the targets at 50 metres there was that much smoke.
That mortar is awesome and thanks for the photos and the video.
Brilliant Daniel....literally....what a blast!
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Golf ball cannon has the tremendous advantage of being affordable to shoot!
The same can be said about my .22 but shooting my .460 XVR puts a much bigger grin on my face ;D I'm sure the same is true in this case :D
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Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Cooler than a golf ball cannon!!
Love it Daniel ;D ;D
Golf ball cannon has the tremendous advantage of being affordable to shoot!
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Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Cooler than a golf ball cannon!!
Love it Daniel ;D ;D
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At Jim's request here are some photos of my scale M 1841 Mortar with an out of scale, actual 8" bore for shooting bowling balls!
The wheels and handle in the first three photos do not belong to the mortar, but do belong to the mortar's transport carriage.
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0048_zpsoxkjmfu2.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0048_zpsoxkjmfu2.jpg.html)
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0049_zpsfdnatxyk.jpg) (https://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0049_zpsfdnatxyk.jpg.html)
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0079_zps6b9imqgr.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0079_zps6b9imqgr.jpg.html)
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0082_zpsylyztfbk.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0082_zpsylyztfbk.jpg.html)
BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
(https://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h449/Real49er/This%20and%20That/IMG_0085_zpsldp1emzo.jpg) (http://s1110.photobucket.com/user/Real49er/media/This%20and%20That/IMG_0085_zpsldp1emzo.jpg.html)
Listen for the bowling ball's finger hole "flute" as the ball slowly rotates through the air after launch.
https://youtu.be/qXCunkyHYdQ
There ya go Jim!!!