• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Cannon Owner Fires at Neighbors

I'm a medieval re-enactor & own a 2lb cannon. Between events, the carriage resides in the garage & the barrel is dismounted & stored in my gun safe. Powder is kept in a locked concrete magazine in the back yard away from the house. How much safer were you expecting?
 
steve s said:
Too bad this didn't happen in California. The neighbors could have hired this guy to show up with some of his tanks.

Steve S
Click to expand...

That would have been newsworthy if he showed up.
He's been dead since 2009.

Imagine a zombie tank coming at you. :cool:
 
cullennz said:
Let me guess.

You can fire blank cannons in the US?
Click to expand...

I put it down to my redneck childhood, but I actually have shot cannons a lot. My cousin had two different cannons, one had a barrel to shoot stuff about the size of ping pong balls, the other closer to softballs. The one that shot ping pong ball sized stuff was more portable, but still required a truck to move it about.

As a child we actually went up to the local tire shop to scavenge weights and melted them down to make balls for the cannon. It was a lot of fun and if we made a bunch of balls our cousin would pony up for the powder.

The last time I remember firing the cannon our family was setting up for a family photo and one of my cousins dared me to light it off in the background. Scared the beejesus out of grandma and the parents came down hard on our cannon based amusement.
 
Ravenwood said:
I'm a medieval re-enactor & own a 2lb cannon. Between events, the carriage resides in the garage & the barrel is dismounted & stored in my gun safe. Powder is kept in a locked concrete magazine in the back yard away from the house. How much safer were you expecting?
Click to expand...
It may be even more dangerous to store powder in an enclosed space. Just sayin'.
 
MRC_Hans said:
What I find insane is that someone is allowed to own a cannon and the wherewiths to fire it on a private premise in a residential area.

What if he decides to, instead of "just" the wad, put something like a bag of nails into it and fire it?:eek:

Hans
Click to expand...
But he didn't.

And it's not like cannons are commonly used in crimes. And good luck banning steel tubes and black powder.
 
Dr. Keith said:
Yeah, that'd be like trying ban pipe bombs.
Click to expand...
It's not a pipe bomb until you make it one by assembling all the pieces, we don't ban pipes and ball bearings and matches. It's fine to make it illegal to fire a cannon, or even load it with powder and projectile(s). But the reason they're not banned is it's silly to do so, they're not used in crimes to any degree and they have historical value and it's fun to make them go "boom".

Hey, you can buy mini-cannons that fire BBs here! http://www.pocketartillery.com/

They even accept bitcoins! :p
 
I suppose so.

Sorry, I have long since decided not to enter gun ownership debates. I didn't realize this included cannon.

Just ignore me.

Hans
 
MRC_Hans said:
I suppose so.

Sorry, I have long since decided not to enter gun ownership debates. I didn't realize this included cannon.

Just ignore me.

Hans
Click to expand...

Well cannons are basically just guns..for giants.
 
Dr. Keith said:
Yeah, that'd be like trying ban pipe bombs.
Click to expand...

What would the pressing need be in banning cannons? Other than this one nut-job, is there some scourge of criminal cannoneers that we just haven't heard about?

The crucial difference here is that it's not uncommon for pipe bombs to be used to commit crimes.
 
Polaris said:
What would the pressing need be in banning cannons?
Click to expand...

I think my observation has been misread: I think neither need banning.

Like I said, I had a very redneck youth, a lot of time spent with black powder and waterproof fuse. The stuff used to cost about a dollar a foot so you had to be careful when deciding how long a fuse was "safe".

I think more could be learned about safety from experimenting with explosives than will ever be learned on a gun range. Start with fireworks, then move on to chemical explosives and see if you make it to anything more serious while maintaining full function of all your fingers and both eyes. But that may be a personal bias. We had a lot of fun.

ETA:
The crucial difference here is that it's not uncommon for pipe bombs to be used to commit crimes.
Click to expand...

Is that really true in the US? I would imagine that pipe bombs are rarely an effective device for criminals, if you filter out the crime of possessing the explosive. Guns are just so much more stable and so much easier to aim.
 
Last edited:
Dr. Keith said:
I think my observation has been misread: I think neither need banning.

Like I said, I had a very redneck youth, a lot of time spent with black powder and waterproof fuse. The stuff used to cost about a dollar a foot so you had to be careful when deciding how long a fuse was "safe".

I think more could be learned about safety from experimenting with explosives than will ever be learned on a gun range. Start with fireworks, then move on to chemical explosives and see if you make it to anything more serious while maintaining full function of all your fingers and both eyes. But that may be a personal bias. We had a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

As did I (21 years in rural West Virginia, and 5 miles outside of the nearest town). Still got all my digits and both eyes - and only set myself on fire once.
 
Polaris said:
As did I (21 years in rural West Virginia, and 5 miles outside of the nearest town). Still got all my digits and both eyes - and only set myself on fire once.
Click to expand...

If we did any of that stuff now we would be label terrorists and taken off by homeland security with no rights. All for just trying to see if you really can blow catfish out of a pond if you try hard enough . . .
 
Just out of interest, what are the laws in the UK and US (for comparison) surrounding the ownership and use of active muzzle loading cannons?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom