Great stuff!
Cannon bring class to any argument

Very, very cool. Thanks so much for posting that.

Very cool! Got the chance to shoot these everyday while working with NPS at Petersburg, VA. back in the day. Went to Aberdeen Proving Grounds to train. Was shooting live rounds. Yes, very, very manly. Learned lots about the application of field guns during a battle. Also learned of the very deadly and gory results of this application during various battles of the ACW.

We fired reduced charges for visitors from our 12-pounder napoleon daily at Fort Union National Monument in NE New Mexico; those demos were well received by all. However, after closing the park for the day on special occasions like the Fourth of July or the Marine Corps birthday ( the park superintendent was a Marine) sometimes we would load up and fire a full charge which was damn impressive on the parade field that was situated between moutains on one side and mesas on the other side. Nothing like a full charge echoing between the two land masses back and forth several times.

Much less a full battery firing double canister at advancing infantry.

Full charge for a 12 pounder Napoleon is 2 1/2 pound of powder. That and a 12 pound solid shot will make a 2,500 pound gun carriage jump about 6 inches off the ground.

It was not unheard of to double charge canister in very tight situations, such as at Malvern Hill where the Confederates made frontal attacks on 54 Federal field guns parked hub to hub. Or at Stones River, where the Federal deployed 45 field guns hub to hub to stem Confederate assaults; and most notably at Gettysburg along and behind the stone fence on the 3rd day.
This is pretty close to life size.The can is filled with one inch iron balls.

Those three situations make me cringe to think about it.

JABQ04 said:

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Much less a full battery firing double canister at advancing infantry.

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They would fire by gun starting at one end. By the time the 6th gun fired the 1st gun should have been reloaded. It was very dangerous mechanic because they would leave out swabbing the barrel and were ramming powder bags down on hot embers inside the barrel. I would think one or two rammers would also be flying down range at the advancing infantry, which in these cases where way less than 100 yards. At 100 yards the infantry would be flat out running to get to the guns.

Firing Canister Rounds.

I was thinking Malvern Hill when I typed that.

Federal 6 gun battery properly spaced during training. Most if not all Confederate batteries consisted of 4 guns.

JABQ04 said:

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I was thinking Malvern Hill when I typed that.

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It just wasn't field guns either. They were also facing shelling from Federal gun boats on the James.

I would pay large sums of money to be able to send a few live rounds down range out of A&M's cannons

Wildman15 said:

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I would pay large sums of money to be able to send a few live rounds down range out of A&M's cannons

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These people can help you part with your money.


https://www.drivetanks.com/

I want to shoot the PAK 75

This place is definitely on my bucket list

JABQ04 said:

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Wildman15 said:

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I would pay large sums of money to be able to send a few live rounds down range out of A&M's cannons

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These people can help you part with your money.


https://www.drivetanks.com/

I want to shoot the PAK 75

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I would go over to the gun pits at Abad before they moved them out.

Triple 7s are bad ass. Gets you deep in the chest. But yes the Pak 40 would be a highlight.

Yes. PAK 40. Brain fart

Stive said:

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It's still hard to wrap my brain around what double canister would do to troops marching/running straight at it.

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I wondered this exact same when i visited the battle ground in Chickamauga, GA. Such an eerie feeling standing in the middle of field looking at cannons on both sides of you.

Stive said:

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It's still hard to wrap my brain around what double canister would do to troops marching/running straight at it.

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Would be interesting to see a demo against a formation of pig carcasses. Could get stinky though.

That would be cool.

It's only messy when you are within 20 to 30 yards when the shot is closely packed. The further out it spreads out fairly quickly. They needed and adjustable choke.

Rabid Cougar said:

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It's only messy when you are within 20 to 30 yards when the shot is closely packed. The further out it spreads out fairly quickly. They needed and adjustable choke.

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I dunno, in the video I posted it looked like those balls would all hit a line of troops.