What is this? Cannon ID help! 11" long,1-1/16th bore, 2-1/2" width at the base,weighs 20lbs. Iron and I don't think it's a signal cannon..too hefty Thoughts??

Marc Matzer

Cadet
Joined
Jun 10, 2019
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Defiantly a signal cannon which was used when ships were coming into the harbor or to signal other ships. Nice Piece, Thanks for sharing it.
 
IMHO, this is a home made lathe turned noise maker. Apparently the individual who made it didn't know how to add trunnions to it. Note the center drill hole in the back end of the breech, the simple counter-bored fuse hole, and the plain turned lines around the breech. I have seen a lot of real "Signal Guns". They are professionally done and all of them have trunnions for the barrel to be mounted on a carriage. This thing has to be tied to a block at best. Before I would fire it I would make sure that it isn't made from Cast Iron.
J.
 
Without trunions it has to be a signal canon. A gun you don't have to adjust for range, or aim at anything.
Not true,large cannons were designed and built from 1787 till 1850 without trunions,the first carronades..designed by a Scottish gentleman barrels were attached to a plate that was fitted into the carriage that would slide and reduce recoil,the rear had a screw assembly to adjust its height...let me see if I can post the information...anyway its steel not cast iron
 
IMHO, this is a home made lathe turned noise maker. Apparently the individual who made it didn't know how to add trunnions to it. Note the center drill hole in the back end of the breech, the simple counter-bored fuse hole, and the plain turned lines around the breech. I have seen a lot of real "Signal Guns". They are professionally done and all of them have trunnions for the barrel to be mounted on a carriage. This thing has to be tied to a block at best. Before I would fire it I would make sure that it isn't made from Cast Iron.
J.
No lathe marks,it has a casting pintle from the poured steel...I have some signal cannons...this is not one of them,that back hole does not go through...it is old and well made
 
Not true,large cannons were designed and built from 1787 till 1850 without trunions,the first carronades..designed by a Scottish gentleman barrels were attached to a plate that was fitted into the carriage that would slide and reduce recoil,the rear had a screw assembly to adjust its height...let me see if I can post the information...anyway its steel not cast iron
This is certainly no carronade!

Do check out my post [#20] in your other thread about this piece. It includes a link to a very similar ACW signal gun, without trunions, strapped to a carriage.

In that thread you state: "Being a collector of militaria, I need one of you who has much more experience in the cannon dept to see what they can tell us about it." Well, I think clearly you have had just that in spades in both threads. Nobody, as far as I can see, but you believes this is a weapon.
 
I just love these guys who ask for assistance and opinions and then want to start an argument about it. As a Journeyman Machinist I know exactly what I am looking at because of the center drill hole in the back. That shows it was turned on centers on a lathe before it was bored out. The reason the breech is still round is so that it could be held in the lathe chuck to be bored out after the taper was turned.
J.
 
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning.
 
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