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.




BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Listen for the bowling ball's finger hole "flute" as the ball slowly rotates through the air after launch.
https://youtu.be/qXCunkyHYdQThere ya go Jim!!!
Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Cooler than a golf ball cannon!!
Love it Daniel
Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Cooler than a golf ball cannon!!
Love it Daniel

Golf ball cannon has the tremendous advantage of being affordable to shoot!
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

I'm sure the same is true in this case
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!
Impressive thing that one...
Thanks for sharing !
Holy Jumpin Jehoshaphat Daniel ,that thing is incredible, I knew to shoot a cannonball it had to be big.....but Wow, that is cool.
That's really neat! Do the bowling balls stay in one piece - are you able to reuse them? Looks like great fun.
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:

Ever show up at a bowling alley with that?
Ever show up at a bowling alley with that?
No .... and I'm not welcome at golf courses either .... go figure!?!? ;c)