So pretty much, all you need is a heafty pipe and a slight dose of insanity?
Reminds me of a story one of my friends told me. Around where I live they have a few of those old cannons, that have been sealed up, I assumed so people didn't put garbage in them.
Anyway this guy when he was a teen found some gunpowder (this was before the cannons were sealed), put it down the cannon, and put a hunk of metal on it... the result was the metal flew through a [empty] train-car! Hmm...
Re:Big Pipe...
by
s0l0m0n
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
You also need a damn good welder, which can be hard to find.
A friend and I played around with a 1" diameter cannon a couple of years ago. He's a shipwright and pipe welder by trade. He built and welded the thing, and despite being very comfortable welding pipe for high pressure applications.. this still made him nervous, even though it was built using 3/4" wall pipe, and a 2" thick butt plate.
We mostly stopped using it after a kid blew his hand off with a similar device a few miles away on the 4th of july. Shortly there after, we fired it off one last time (in the fornt yard, no less), with a nice light load of powder and a plastic bag for wadding, no actual projectile. For some reason we got a much louder detonation that ussual, and the cannon jumped much farther than normal. At this point, we realized that it was unpredictable, and quite possibly a danger to the operator.
I wouldn't feel comfortable with such a toy unless I could have it ultrasonically tested at least semireglarly.
Assuming the site is from the US, I don't see why it would or should be illegal. What is more dangerous to the public, a psycho with a homemade mortar or a psycho with a semi-automatic handgun. I guess the mortar would be able to do some serious structural damage, but I can do some serious damage with my car, and more idiots drive than build their own cannons.
--
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE
ok
What? No gratuitous damage shots?!?
by
Cid+Highwind
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Am I the only one disappointed that the reporter didn't go downrange and photograph the craters those bowling balls made on impact? I bet it would be a lot more impressive than the divots the cannon dug in the firing line...
-- 0 1 - just my two bits
Reminds me of powerlabs cannon
by
ron_ivi
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
But still neither are quite as cool as this
Trebuchet
from the
which launched a piano and a cow.
Re:Only four ounces of powder
by
glenebob
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· Score: 4, Interesting
And you would have likely just wasted it. 4 ounces is quite a bit when you're talking about black powder (or a synthetic thereof), and that barrel is pretty short.
That said... I probably would try more too:-)
like a spud gun
by
The+Tyro
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
We used to build smaller variants of this idea out of pvc.
Big piece of PVC pipe (capped on one end, natch). Spray some hair spray in, stuff a potatoe into the end, and connect a battery to a model-rocket solar igniter you have in the bottom (get behind something in case the PVC fails).
Kaboom!
We found, after much experimentation, that there was quite a difference in the potential energy of various hair-spray products (which we had, of course, five-finger discounted from our mothers). "The Dry Look" turned out to be the most energetic brand.
-- Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
This is cool. The guy who built this knows what he is doing. Most of you don't. Don't try this at home.
Cannons and Mortars are legal to own. My Brother in Law owns a cannon they use at civil war re-enactments so who ever posted that the BATF will get you is full of it. At charge of 3 oz Pyrodex a shot this is not cheap to fire but this is not a toy even though it's used like one. Last time I bought FFFG Pyrodex it was aprox $14.00 for 16 ounces. That was a while back. ( I have several black powder firearms.)
Do the math of a 8 lb bowling ball traveling 400 FPS for 600 yards. You don't want to be on end it lands on.
Looks like loads of fun if you have the room/safe place to do this. Lots of noise and smoke.
-- If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it. Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
This was a great link
by
sakusha
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
...when I first saw it on FARK about two weeks ago. They had a cool link to a Civil War reenactment supplier that will sell you a modern-manufacture cannon just like the ones they used back in the olden days. Only $7000, powder and shot not included.
Anyway, I am reminded of a story I read a while ago. Some curators (Art Institute of Chicago or The Smithsonian or someplace like that) were examining an antique gun and found out it was loaded, and had been on display for decades with a full charge. The gunpowder charge was so old, they feared it was unstable and could detonate at any moment, so they decided to investigate all their other weapons. They found out that about 20% of their collection was fully loaded and nobody ever knew about it. They're desperately trying to defuse all these old weapons, which includes everything from relatively modern antique guns to old cannons. And they can't just pour water down the barrels because some of them have bullets in the way, some of the weapons would disintegrate if you got them wet, so they're in a real quandary. Now I wonder about the safety of all those cannons on public display in parks etc.
California state law. There are similar provisions in federal law, under the National Firearms Act.
It is possible to pay a large tax, undergo a background check, etc, to posess NFA weapons in a few states. But most states prohibit private ownership of NFA weapons; and everywhere else it's a big hassle. It's not like buying a handgun.
Re:Infernal device
by
TheCrazyFinn
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
First off, they're up in Alaska, where the laws are kinda lax aout that sort of thing.
Second off, Doc specializes in wierd and wonderful stuff like this. I'm sure he gave it a once over before being anywhere near it when it went off. Doc Nickel is a pretty bright guy, and works around high-pressure devices all the time (He's one of the top airsmiths in Paintball, and somewhat legendary for his hacks).
-- "You've got an invalid haircut"
-Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
If you want to build your own siege engine
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Slashdot Mirror
Are these things legal? In every state?
Slashdot effect + 'Build Your Own Motor', we may have just set off Echelon alarms
So pretty much, all you need is a heafty pipe and a slight dose of insanity?
Reminds me of a story one of my friends told me. Around where I live they have a few of those old cannons, that have been sealed up, I assumed so people didn't put garbage in them.
Anyway this guy when he was a teen found some gunpowder (this was before the cannons were sealed), put it down the cannon, and put a hunk of metal on it... the result was the metal flew through a [empty] train-car! Hmm...
Assuming the site is from the US, I don't see why it would or should be illegal. What is more dangerous to the public, a psycho with a homemade mortar or a psycho with a semi-automatic handgun. I guess the mortar would be able to do some serious structural damage, but I can do some serious damage with my car, and more idiots drive than build their own cannons.
DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE
okAm I the only one disappointed that the reporter didn't go downrange and photograph the craters those bowling balls made on impact? I bet it would be a lot more impressive than the divots the cannon dug in the firing line...
0 1 - just my two bits
But still neither are quite as cool as this Trebuchet from the which launched a piano and a cow.
And you would have likely just wasted it. 4 ounces is quite a bit when you're talking about black powder (or a synthetic thereof), and that barrel is pretty short.
:-)
That said... I probably would try more too
We used to build smaller variants of this idea out of pvc.
Big piece of PVC pipe (capped on one end, natch). Spray some hair spray in, stuff a potatoe into the end, and connect a battery to a model-rocket solar igniter you have in the bottom (get behind something in case the PVC fails).
Kaboom!
We found, after much experimentation, that there was quite a difference in the potential energy of various hair-spray products (which we had, of course, five-finger discounted from our mothers). "The Dry Look" turned out to be the most energetic brand.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Cannons and Mortars are legal to own. My Brother in Law owns a cannon they use at civil war re-enactments so who ever posted that the BATF will get you is full of it. At charge of 3 oz Pyrodex a shot this is not cheap to fire but this is not a toy even though it's used like one. Last time I bought FFFG Pyrodex it was aprox $14.00 for 16 ounces. That was a while back. ( I have several black powder firearms.)
Do the math of a 8 lb bowling ball traveling 400 FPS for 600 yards. You don't want to be on end it lands on.
Looks like loads of fun if you have the room/safe place to do this. Lots of noise and smoke.
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
...when I first saw it on FARK about two weeks ago. They had a cool link to a Civil War reenactment supplier that will sell you a modern-manufacture cannon just like the ones they used back in the olden days. Only $7000, powder and shot not included.
Anyway, I am reminded of a story I read a while ago. Some curators (Art Institute of Chicago or The Smithsonian or someplace like that) were examining an antique gun and found out it was loaded, and had been on display for decades with a full charge. The gunpowder charge was so old, they feared it was unstable and could detonate at any moment, so they decided to investigate all their other weapons. They found out that about 20% of their collection was fully loaded and nobody ever knew about it. They're desperately trying to defuse all these old weapons, which includes everything from relatively modern antique guns to old cannons. And they can't just pour water down the barrels because some of them have bullets in the way, some of the weapons would disintegrate if you got them wet, so they're in a real quandary. Now I wonder about the safety of all those cannons on public display in parks etc.
California state law. There are similar provisions in federal law, under the National Firearms Act.
It is possible to pay a large tax, undergo a background check, etc, to posess NFA weapons in a few states. But most states prohibit private ownership of NFA weapons; and everywhere else it's a big hassle. It's not like buying a handgun.
First off, they're up in Alaska, where the laws are kinda lax aout that sort of thing.
Second off, Doc specializes in wierd and wonderful stuff like this. I'm sure he gave it a once over before being anywhere near it when it went off. Doc Nickel is a pretty bright guy, and works around high-pressure devices all the time (He's one of the top airsmiths in Paintball, and somewhat legendary for his hacks).
"You've got an invalid haircut" -Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
sells catapult kits, etc.
I was just wondering is anywere mentioned in the legal system that you cannot build a nuke?
http://ebgp.net/ccc/