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A friend of mine has a cannon that he made. I was expecting something on the order of a toy. It isn't. And he did a hell of a nice job on it. I think he told me that he used a well casing for the bore. He cut a circle of steel that fit inside the bore and welded it into the bore. He then welded a similar piece of circular steel on the end, so that the breech end was double thick. He then took this to a machine shop and had the whole thing turned down so it looked good. The welds are no longer noticeable. He mounted the barrel to a car axle. He got the axle at a junk yard and cut it to the width he wanted and welded it back together. He put a tongue on it made of an I-Beam. He has a gear driven jack that is welded to the I-Beam to provide for elevation and depression of the barrel. The cannon stands about waist high, and is probably about four feet long. The bore is about 3/4" bigger in diameter than a beer can. I don't remember the load but I think he said it was either one or two cups of black powder (I don't know, don't try this without getting better information). He then loads it with a beer can filled with concrete. He has also filled a beer can about half full of .50 caliber lead round balls. He bought a worm (I think that is the right term) from a local BP shop which he uses to swab the bore out with a wet rag between shots. I have made a few gestures towards putting one together myself. If I build one, it will have to have some type of sighting system. I couldn't get him to fire it through his chrono.
I don't know if any of this is safe. I don't know if any of this is legal. Do not trust any of this information without checking it out with an authority on the subject. This could be dangerous...............
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