That's incredible - I've only just started reading up on the Whitworth cannons and rifles. I'd always assumed that Civil War era firearms and especially cannon were essentially a matter of luck with regards to hitting anything. No luck needed. They were so far ahead of their time that they can barely be improved upon, even now. I feel hugely sorry for the people who came up against them in the American Civil War (including that one famous General).
Steve look close at 0:45 ,when you hit target a ground squirrel runs for cover . Thanks for posting I missed the shoot and its fun to see a video of it . Robin
We ruined his day. I thought it was dirt clod at first. My sister will enjoy this. She is having trouble with those little buggers in her yard. I don't think she will let me get rid of them this way
Your New Diego is interesting. What are the stats and the load/firing tables like? I have studied Civil War ordnance, including the Witworth. So I am interested in what they "Could" have nuilt and used
The first place I saw this type of breech conversion was on a cannon in a grave yard in Orange county NY. I have read that after the Civil War there were all types of conversions. I am sure there were some towards the end of the war but I don't know for sure.
I have been through this before. We are not in the military. You didn't fire your guns with a fuse most of our guns are fired from a fuse. It's required at all the cannon shoots to say fire in the hole 2 times. Our gun is fired from a percussion cap but most of the guns are fired from a lit fuse in the touch hole of the cannon. Thanks for your service but we are still going to say fire in the hole.
The original Whitworth had a double lead thread. I am not sure the T.P.I. Mine is a single lead, one thread per inch. 4 turns closes the breach. If you could cut a double lead thread It would be nice.. That cuts the number of turns in half. Good luck be safe!!! make it stronger than you think it needs to be.
@@piutesteve I am using solid 1018 CRS. I am think stub acme for the thread. I can do double start but not sure yet if I will. What thread profile do recommend?
@@fyrbutkus I had one with buttress threads. It worked great. Mine are square threads 1/2" wide 1/2" deep. they work great also. If your gun is going to be a bag gun make sure to leave lots of clearance for powder fouling. All that being said I think I would go with acme threads. It would be a good idea to check with an engineer. EVERY TIME YOU TEST A CANNON OR CHANGE YOUR LOAD EVEN SLIGHTY. TREAT IT LIKE A PROOF TEST. BE BEHIND A BUNKER. I know of 2 people that died because they didn't.... Be safe. I love cannons but they are dangerous bastards.
Wonderful pieces of weaponry !! I am a retired Army Paratrooper Red leg, and St. Barbara's Medal (Silver) recipient. I am in love with your NEW DIEGO !! I am a garage Blacksmith/Armorer, and Gunsmith, and make Black Powder Mortars, but you have inspired me my friend to make my own variation of a Breach/Muzzleloader cannon complete with carriage. Can you tell me if you do your own barrels or do you have them made for you please? Thank you for keeping this art form of Artillery alive !!
I will be glad to help all I can. For New Diego I bought a 3" navy barrel and pressed D.O.M. tubing over the outside of the barrel to get it to the right dimension. 3" navy barrels can be had for $1500 to $2000.
***** Excellent idea for the barrel, and much easier than what I was first thinking. I was contemplating putting several sleeves of hollow steel tubing inside and outside of each other to form the thickness of the barrel, then inserting a rifled liner......it never occurred to me to buy a surplus or partial de-milled barrel from the military and possibly cut it down to size and dimensions. Thank you !!
***** Do you have a link for where you bought your Navy barrel? I looked at my military surplus firearms dealers and they didn't have any, nor did they have any suggestions. I was thinking about contacting some military DRMO yards, but not sure how to contact them as of now. I live in NH and have the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near me, and will try them and see what they say. Any info you can hint at would be appreciated. I have an C&R FFL so dealers would be ok if I had to contact them. Thanks Steve.
I know a guy who has several of them. I don't feel comfortable giving you his contact info without his permission. I will tell him about this thread. Maybe you two can get together.
The range was 200 yards. It's amazing how flat they shoot. A12 pound bullet going 1500 fps. I shot a 5 shot 7 1/2 group at 400 yards about 2 years ago. We learned a lot from the shoot in this video.
A sniper's cannon. Every time I read a story from the war when someone describes some amazing shot by an artillery crew I wonder if it must have been from a Whitworth. This must be a re-creation? A "homemade" job? How does one come to own such a piece?
It's a home made cannon. It does not have the same type of rifling as an original Whitworth. It's made from a 3" navy barrel. Watch Gunbroker they come up for sale once in a while. check out my video. proof testing a Whitworth cannon. It's the same gun on a different carriage.
@@piutesteve Thanks. I guess you made the breech. I heard that Armstrong rifles and other early breechloaders had problems of gas leakage. I guess the screw on breech doesn't leak any gas but it takes more time to reload, and probably harder/expensive to make. Do you happen to know what steel the barrel(liner) is made of? Just curious. It's good to see that you are still active on youtube. You need to upload a lot more. Anything, like working on new cannons, shooting them, casting of new shells, etc. I'd watch them all.
@@anonfilly7335 Thank you for such nice comments. You can't believe how rude some people are. I love building cannons and shooting them. I like to help people with their cannon projects. But I get a lot of shit about how amateurish my videos are. I don't proclaim to be any good at making videos. That's not what I am into. I don't try to make any money from RU-vid. My videos are not monetized. (they don't have any adds) I just try to share the fun. The rude comments kinda killed it for me. As to the barrel liner. I don't know what the hell it is. but my barrel was made in the 1940's It sat in the hold of a ship for 25 years. Then when I got it. It was sitting on the edge of San Francisco bay half full of mud. it had been there for 30 plus years. NO RUST Its almost perfect. It's not stainless. America made great stuff in the 40"s.
piutesteve I just like to see the whole loading and closing of the breech process, it's a minor gripe because I really enjoyed the video. Great to see just how ridiculously accurate the Whitworth is.
Typically we shoot 400 yards. This was only 200 yards. The gun shoots just as good at 400. I shot a 5 shot group that measured 7 1/2 inches at 405 yards, you could cover the whole group with a baseball cap.
