How To Load and Fire Civil War Cannon 

XD

That's true

Lmao

These guys look like they're going to die of diabetes.

​@@ceyhuncv2632q

Didn't you ever watch cartoons as a kid? Everyone knows the cannonball fires without gunpowder

Yeah--CW artillery reenactor here. I noticed the same thing. They loaded a projectile but no powder, maybe for safety, but I think they could have faked it. Obviously, they removed the projectile and put a powder charge in off camera, or there would have been no muzzle flash.

They used something similar to gun powder which they called “Black Powder” but I believe it works the same way. Not sure why they didn’t include this into the video.

@@Jay-un1jzblack powder and gunpowder are the same thing, however modern guns don't use it, they use "smokless powder" which is more powerful and as the name suggests produces less smoke.

@@CM-di1oz I THINK that were they to show the powder loading, it woiuld be ramming it home but in a similar manner to using the worm--under hand technique, and the loader woiuld also make sure to be clear of the muzzle after the ramming...#3 man, I suspect (don't quote me on this). Maybe rifled cannonhad different procedures and protocols, but here's another video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B4mR-Hi0XnI.html&ab_channel=HISTORICALFILMS

winter 108 callbacks

It was a lot faster when in battle

You're fight in the warship? Use the cannon in ship?

@@ceyhuncv2632 I've been on USS Brig Niagara when they fired a 32-pdr carronade

Kharkovkid yeah

Slow it down

Its not that early and rifling was used in canons way earlier than the civil war

service1956 rifling as it's called was starting just over a decade before the civil war reports say either Austria-Hungary or french made the first rifled weapon but during the civil war rifled cannons and muskets where mass produced, the 1861 Springfield musket and the 1858 British Enfield where the two most common muskets cannons and batterys where extensive with the most common 2 being the M1857 Napoleon 12 pounder rifled cannon and the 12 and 24 pounder Austrian howizerter witch I believe was also rifled

Almost forgot haha that being said smoothbores where still used alot by both sides. What ever was available at the time. The famous South general "Stonewall Jackson" was shot and wounded by his own troops and as his surgern stated after he removed the bullet he said. It's a smooth bore round was most definitely the boys from texas. At the time the war broke out most factory's where in the north and the union had trade with the western powers so the south had to arm alot of there men with older rifles. Some men even using the muskets given to them by there father's used in early wars even as far back as the revaluationary war

The gun the showed is an original 4 inch ordnance rifle ad yes, they were most defiantly rifled. Rifle cannons had been used ad experimented with long before he civil war, the big issue was the metal. Rifled cannons tended to have higher breach pressures because of the tight fitment of the round and the bore. With the metallurgy of the day prior to around 1845 to 1850, the rifled guns would tend to burst on firing. They made bronze and brass rifled cannons that would bulge instead of bursting but the rifling would rapidly wear out due to the pressures and projectiles used. The 3 inch ordnance rifle was unique because it used a forging ad welding process with straps or iron and rings of steel that were forged together that allowed he guns to not burst upon firing with projectiles designed for a close fitment to the bore. He absolute best rifled, muzzle loading cannons of the day were those made by Sir Joseph Whitworth (same guy who invented the Whitworth thread and standardized it). He made both cannons and small arms using hexagonal rifling with projectiles that had the match hexagonal twist made into them. The guns were, and still are, amazingly accurate and rarely ever failed in combat.

@CDS Pvt Depending on the perspective and for the people engaged in it.

South vs north War?

The shell had gunpowder in it.

@@user-xj7ze3bv3c correct, he even opens the shell to expose powder

​@@Alexesssp Incorrect. The 3" Schenkl round as displayed in this video is missing its paper sabot and the powder charge is also not shown. That thing which was loaded is simply the projectile which will travel to the target and has a solid 1/2 inch cast iron case. You aren't poking a hole through it with a little spike. Dont' gob off regarding things you have no clue about.

@@B61Mod12 nah

@@Alexesssp that's what your parents said when you were born.

John Smith fun fact... there were fat people before McDonald’s

Ian Jamelske it’s a joke

Modern problem. Historical solution

Kras well not nessasaraly. depends on experience and the crews quick thinking and improvisation

Kras they still could it would just take a lot longer to load, aim and fire

My reenactment group safely loaded our 3" rifle with 3 men. It can be done with a minimum of 2 (one on the muzzle end, one on the breach end).

Michael Drzewiecki wow you replied? a whole month after. I remember awnserig this to great to see your still around!

They could fire with as little as two men

I didn't either. The only reason why i came to a video like this is to see how they load the power.

By that time they had cannons who shot shells with powder inside the shell, so not need for powder bags. If you want to watch powder bags being loaded, aim a century earlier from the American civil war (I can imagine they also used older cannons who needed powder bags, but usually on reenactments they go for the most modern stuff they had)

@@Vlad-1986 They did have cannon which used fixed ammunition. They're called howitzers and were generally breach-loading. The powder for one of these would have been either in a bag, or measured into a wooden tool that fit the bore depending on which army. They just showed the projectile and not the powder in this video since they probably weren't firing live ammunition and just got the shell out for demonstration purposes.

This whole drill was pretty much a re-enactorism.

У этих ребят внешность открытых и общительных людей.. Думаю что их рты не закрывались ни на минуту.

Italiamerican in the shell

no... not in the shell... in a cloth (in modern days tin foil) pouch seated behind the shell

@@Patches-qm9iy Same thing I was wondering about...how do they put it in?

Иосиф Steelin with the shell maybe

Well one has jeans on and the other doesn't know if he is artillery or berdans lol I think that may have something to do with it . These guys don't very much seem to know what they are doing

You'd use the corkscrew tool to snag it and pull it out.

Vent cover. This protects against intrusion and blowing of hot residues to the vent and in the bottom of the barrel, which could ignite the powder charge while loading or during pricking of the bag through the vent. It is 18 years ago, when one crew did not cover it and the no.2 lost three fingers while he loading the third shot. The rammer flew across the battlefield 300 meters. Fortunately, to an empty space.

Micah Brumley it’s also, “the Irish volunteer.”

Blood and Iron, it’s a fucking amazing game.

You really only need 3 well-trained gunners to do it efficiently, but it's much easier with 5.

Unions

One was a girl

It depended upon the gun being used and the circumstances. Some guns used the Army standard of a sustained rate of fire of 1 round every 90 seconds.

@@militaryhistoryguy 4 Rounds a minute for an experienced crew.

Same here, although it was a mountain howitzer.

The propellant is in a separate flannel or cotton bag.

@@danielkohli1542 ok.

It's true lol