Muzzleloading with big toys

Dave951

Dave951

Happy to be here
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Yup, it's real. Yup, we shot it live last weekend. Gun is a 6lb rifled howitzer aka "Pack Parrot". And after a bit of tinkering with the sights, the Order of the Blind Squirrels (Artillery Battery) nailed a few targets. And since we recycle, we dig our rounds out of the backstop for recast and reshooting later. It's easy to find them when they're stacked into only a couple holes.

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Leadchunker said:
But but but but, Joe said you can’t have a cannon.
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Oddly enough, there are no restrictions on owning Civil War artillery. You just can't shoot munitions (exploding ammunition). Solid shot and canister are A OK and tons of fun!
 
Red Marley said:
That is some fine cannon shooting!
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We've been having some load developmental problems and since it's expensive to shoot artillery and we don't usually shoot practices sessions, our load development has been "on the fly" at a match with sometimes disastrous results. Spring Nationals 2022 we finished 2nd in the Rifled Howitzer class by a fluke. Rounds that don't impact the target are disqualified from scoring but our official scoring observer turned his head from the spotting scope just as we fired. The round hit the ground 20yd in front of the target and skipped up into the X ring for a massive keyhole and should have been disqualified. His comment when he looked to score our target "Damn fine shot boys". To which we just grinned and said- Yes. Yes it was.

We think we're getting pretty much dialed in as of last weekend. The gun was shooting where we pointed it and we found the rear sight has a touch of play in it that can lead to a 4in deviation at 100yd. That will be fixed before the next match.

Out of 5 cannon at the last match, we finished 3rd and that's something of a minor miracle since all the others were "mountain rifles" known to be the "sniper" cannon of the Civil War. They're so accurate when dialed in, they could pick out an individual guy 600yds away and blast him. We should have finished dead last but with the gun getting dialed in, we beat two of the "snipers" and it made for a very gratifying weekend.
 
Blakecj7 said:
That is awesome. Never knew there was cannon competitions.
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I'm a member of the North South Skirmish Association and we compete with Civil War arms and that includes artillery and mortars. At our Nationals in Winchester, VA, we shoot cannon for score and there will be more Civil War artillery being shot live fire than anywhere else in the country. In the N-SSA, many teams field an artillery piece for the cannon competition. Many of the tubes are originals as are many of the small arms being used in competition. Here's a couple videos of what we do-



And a visitors perspective-
 
1075tech said:
Let me know when these are. We have an office there - I can always make an excuse to travel. Visited the National Cemetery there a few months ago.
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Will do. If you want to buy real black powder, Back Creek Gunshop is one of the largest distributors in the country and conveniently located at the exit to our national range in Winchester.
 
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