Birkbeck's Battery Live firing

I love the cell phone going off in the middle of the whole thing.
 
G'day chaps the cannon was firing a canister shot containing 30 musket balls to see what the spread and damage would have been against either charging infantry or a gun line. Another shot was against scaffold planking and the balls went through them quite happily and between 12" to 18" into the ground. So we reckon with the width of the pattern and the penetration it would turn about 2 to 3 person width and right through the formation turning the people into tea bags wiith multiple hits on each. A truly horrible weapon to be facing as for the phone ringing it was the person who was filming it on their phone when it rang a bummer but the first time we had fired and filmed the cannon working.

Yours aye,

Birkbeck
 
Thank you for the info about the cannon fire,did you fire the cannon with a full charge?
 
That barrel is 50mm bore and proofed as a 2 pounder firing 1/2 pound black powder and 2 pound cannister or a 1 1/2 cast ball and wooden sabbot. in the videop we were firing 2/3 charge with full shot recoils 2 to 3 feet. You can see more at this address taken when we were being filmed for a programme about the battle of Quebec with Dan Snow......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMILWzE9f0k

Birkbeck
 
Thanks well it has to beat knitting the cannon took me a year and a half to build from scratch just to confirm for the University of Glasgow Battlefield Archaeology Group what the pattern and penetration would be like and there are many more experiments to be carried out. I also have a 3" bore barrel still to be proofed a full sized 3 pounder but we havn't got permission to fire it yet so just using the 50mm bore at the moment. This is one case where my work and hobbies have coincided the gun crew and myself also do the same testing with the muskets to try and work out accuracy and penetration as well.

Birkbeck
 
Mons Meg!!! Now there's a thought I hope it would last longer than the actual one she only fired three times before part of the outer wound wrought iron bands blew off. Ouch !!!!
 
Yes she is truly a beast she was built in the Low countries 1453 and gifted to James II a 20" bore and fired a ball that weighed around 400 pounds about 2 miles but as usual there are many tales about her one storey being that she was on the "Great Michael" which would have made her the largest bore piece on a warship ever but still a fantastic piece.
 
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