Starting Cannon

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SAMYL

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One of my Club's old starting cannons has been decommissioned and I have been given the task of refurbishing it for display in the club bar as an ornament.

It has been painted many times over the years and is presently black and well knocked about. To my mind black looks boring.

I intend to 'blue' the barrel but paint the carriage and wheels. The club is a 'Royal' club so should the carriage be painted the appropriate blue colour with the wheels black or red or green or do I paint the whole thing black as before?

Any advice and suggestions as to a relevant colour scheme or even photos of examples would be most welcome.

Many thanks
 
I don't know about the colour scheme but you should have it pop a "Bang" flag out when you fire it.

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Sorry to pee on your parade but are you sure you can openly display the cannon even thought its been "decommissioned" ?
 
If its a Winchester starting cannon as is likely they were normally supplied with a black painted barrel & carriage, the lettering often picked out in red.
They are actually quite collectible & worth a fair bit of money.
Our club still uses two occasionally but the shells are a horrendous price.
 
The Royal Southampton YC had one or two ( maybe more ) brass ones a la Squadron distributed around when I last saw a few years ago; really can't see any legal / safety snag compared to the horrendous swords, pikes etc some pubs display, or the average argumentative drunk loading up a cannon !

Then again that is comparing common sense and elf 'n safety...

I'd think it would need some serious anti-theft measures though, I remember the RYS lost a couple years ago, probably more over the years; being outside makes security difficult of course.
 
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Bellmore Johnson in the US still sell the Winchester types as well as the Herreshoff models. Have a look at their website to view the various colour schemes. New prices start around $500. Classics cost more and make good prices at auction. If your club needs dosh, this may a consideration.
 
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You will have a club member responsible for holding them while they are in working order. He will have a Fire Arms Cert. Speak to him & about what requirements (if any) the police fire arms officer will have about them being decommisioned. My guess is that they will need to be made impossible to fire - it could be as simple as removing or shortening the firing pin or could be a lot more. Theyy should be in a locked metal cupboard if still fireable.
 
Hi guys.
Thanks for your concern about the safety aspect etc. etc. Rest assured this cannon will never fire again as it has been decommissioned legally and correctly.

Believe me in this part of the country we are only too aware of the security issues concerning firearms and the legalities of owning and caring for them so all requirements are up to date and in order.

The Club still has three servicable cannons for use as required, all licenced, held and stored legally, but this one was no longer safe to use so had to be neutered.

Once it is repainted it should look well displayed in the clubhouse. :)
 
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SAMYL said:
The Club still has three servicable cannons for use as required, all licenced, held and stored legally, but this one was no longer safe to use so had to be neutered.
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If it was not safe to fire blanks it must have been in a pretty dire state? Perhaps I have misunderstood?

Our starting cannon use 10bore blanks, and it is difficult to imagine what deterioration could make them unsafe.
 
A 10 bore blank is not to be trifled with, the entire case is filled with around 8 drams of black powder with a thin card wad on top.this is nearly 4 times the charge that would be used in a muzzleloading 12 bore firing a charge of shot.
Some years ago one of ours tipped up when being fired & the muzzle touched the wooden balcony deck as it went off. It jumped about 2ft in the air & blew a hole 1" round through the wooden decking & showered the area underneath with splinters, luckily no one was standing there. The breech on these is very simple but as they are often not cleaned properly corrosion will take its toll.
 
Ours are carefully cleaned after every use, and checked thoroughly annually by an engineer who has known them for years. I agree that the blast from a 10 bore is significant, and I would not want to be in front of one when it was fired.
 
Leighb said:
If it was not safe to fire blanks it must have been in a pretty dire state? Perhaps I have misunderstood?

Our starting cannon use 10bore blanks, and it is difficult to imagine what deterioration could make them unsafe.
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It looks like someone had tried to bore it out to a bigger bore and made an absolute mess of it. Basically it was scrap after that so it had to be decommissioned completely. Outwardly it looks OK and will be fine for display but nothing else. :mad:
 
That explains it, what a pity, but I am sure it will make a nice display piece. We have a number of display cannon around the club, some outdoors and others inside, only one that I know of has been "officially" decomissioned by having a slot cut in the underside of the barrel where it does not show. I guess in theory the others could be fired.
 
do you have a vicar in the club ? If so you could make him responsible for the gun.

Then he could be the starting cannon canon....


(coat collected already :0 )
 
I painted this old girl more or less in Nelson's colours. She's 18th Century & weighs about 120lbs so not really fit for indoor use.
 
Leighb said:
That explains it, what a pity, but I am sure it will make a nice display piece. We have a number of display cannon around the club, some outdoors and others inside, only one that I know of has been "officially" decomissioned by having a slot cut in the underside of the barrel where it does not show. I guess in theory the others could be fired.
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Great to have them and I'm sure they make a wonderful display, but to get back to my original question, what colours are they painted, just black or to match your club colours?
 
The 2 outside are bronze so unpainted, indoors 2 are painted black with wooden carriages, the other is also bronze on a wooden carriage.

This latter is incidentally a scale model of one of the Mary Rose cannons, made by a late club member. He did the whole thing including casting in bronze in his workshop.

When it was first made he test fired it across the river at RHYC at HW. He had a couple of observers to spot where the shot fell to estimate the range, but, there was no splash :eek: The cannon ball presumably impacted in a field the other side. After that he had it decomissioned.
 
Sounds like fun :D I wish this one could fire a round or two, I know a few places where I could aim it!!!!

So black it would appear to be. I might get the barrel brass plated to make it look more like a naval one and a bit more decorative, I'll have to see what the hierarchy have to say about it ;)

Thanks for the info.
 
SAMYL said:
I wish this one could fire a round or two, I know a few places where I could aim it!!!!
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For what it's worth, a working smoothbore cannon is not exactly hard to make. I made one out of water pipe, aged about 11 or 12. It fired steel slugs[1] through wooden boards quite nicely.

Being well aware of the possibility of a breech explosion, it was fired electrically from inside a sturdy wooden shed a short distance away.

Pete
 
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