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!
This is awesome Daniel!
How far will the bowling ball travel?
How much powder do you put in the charge?
Did you build it?
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.
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/elq47kCGugEAnd this is a good video of another one:
https://youtu.be/ouBNaKnNeRwThey have an impressive ammo cache. 🤠
