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Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Son's Birthday
Hugh Pickens writes "The Charleston Daily Mail reports that machinist Mike Daugherty built his son a working cannon for his birthday — not a model — a real working cannon. 'It looks like something right out of the battle at Gettysburg,' says Daugherty. The 700 pound cast iron and steel howitzer, designed to use comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories with a steep angle of descent, has a 4-inch gun barrel that is 36 inches long mounted on a wooden gun carriage with two 36- inch diameter wheels and took Daugherty about two weeks to build at a cost of about $6,000. 'I've always been interested in the Civil War and cannons, so I thought it would be a good gift,' says Daugherty's 11-year old son Logan. Daugherty said he is not worried about the federal government coming to get his son's cannon because he spoke to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and found it is legal to own such a cannon because it does not use a firing pin and is muzzle loaded so the government does not consider the weapon a threat. Two days after the family celebrated Logan's 11th birthday, father and son offered a field demonstration of the new cannon on top of a grassy hill overlooking Fairmont, West Virginia and on the third try, the blank inside the barrel went boom and a cannon was born. For a followup they popped a golf ball into the gun barrel, lit the fuse, and watched the golf ball split the sky and land about 600 yards away. 'Any rebels charging up this hill would be in trouble with a cannon like this at the top,' Logan says."
...it is legal to own such a cannon because it does not use a firing pin and is muzzle loaded so the government does not consider the weapon a threat.
He then continued to say, "Also, I use it to hunt deer."
First? Is it really a good idea to give an 11 year old a cannon. Even though you will tell him not to use it unsupervised eventually theres going to come a time where his friends say something like "cmon we will just shoot it once"...... and then before you know it they are invading a nearby neighborhood...
Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgment - Zemfram Cochrane
Though Daugherty said he is still stunned that he had to get clearance from the NSA for the archaic artillery piece
Why would he need clearance from the NSA?
Here I sit, all broken hearted.
Came to poop, but only farted.
My kid brother, the machinist, made a scale replica of the 24 pounder long guns on the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides). He didn't cast iron; he machined it from a solid piece of modern steel (so it was WAY stronger than the originals).
Then he made a scale carriage, machined (because it was so hard) from seasoned timbers from an old dock being disassembled.
It was 1/4 scale, as I recall. When fired using modern muzzle loader powder (and totally guessing at the charge), it shot a beercan filled with cement about a quarter mile :-)
He sold it eventually to a collector, but what a cannon that was!
This kid lives in Charleston. Why is he talking about shooting at rebels? What has the South come to? Where is the adult supervision?
'Any rebels charging up this hill would be in trouble with a cannon like this at the top,' Logan says
Anyone else have an image of Stormtroopers firing one of these, relieved that they finally have a better weapon than those blasters?
That title should read "Dad Builds 700 Pound Cannon for Himself, Under The Cover of His Son's Birthday".
a troll from 1861
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I had a compound bow at the age of 7 and was using it without supervision within 6 months.
At no point between the age of 7 and now have I ever used a projectile weapon irresponsibly.
I think it is completely possible for this 11 year old to be responsible enough to own and use a cannon.
Do I think this is the norm? No not at all, I didn't trust most of my friends to use my bow without supervision until I was maybe 12, but to just write this kid off because of your own irresponsibility is not fair.
You mean that somewhere, someone has NOT taught their son to be a pansy, and fear anything that has any remote chance of hurting someone? Oh, the horror! The next thing you know, he'll let the kid have his own POCKET KNIFE, for crying out loud. Won't someone please... THINK OF THE CHILDREN????
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Anytime you need to get permission from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for a Birthday present, you know it's going to be the best birthday ever.