GDG- Cannon Fire

[Jim Lamason]

Hi all, 

While not the arty expert of Dave's stature, or even Gary McGinnis, I have
had to the privilege of seeing a Napoleon do a live fire. 

I don't know what the composition of the charge or round that was fired, but
the sound and recoil were significant. 

To me at least while a 3" ordinance rifle would be more of a thump as just
described, the Napoleon, was more of a BWANG.. As the round left the tube. 

And the recoil on a flat service was about 4 feet. 

This was now, over 10 years ago. 

Hope this helps, 
Jim "the other Jim " Lamason 

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]
On Behalf Of The Mills
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:24 PM
To: 'GDG'
Subject: RE: GDG- Cannon Fire

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Thanks all for the answers.  I really appreciate all the help you guys have
gave.....

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]
On Behalf Of Jack Kelly
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:45 PM
To: GDG
Subject: Re: GDG- Cannon Fire

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Andy,

I've never served a live-fired gun, but I have seen live firing of a 3" 
rifle, using cast aluminum projectiles (solid shot projectiles for rifles) 
and there is a difference in the sound- a more distinct thump, probably 
caused by the projectile clearing the tube.  The recoil was significant, 
with the piece lifting some inches off the ground and rolling back 4-5 feet.

The range was constructed with a gentle ascending slope in back of the gun, 
so the recoil was dampened somewhat.

In battle, the gun crew would roll the piece back to its original position, 
and resight the gun.  On flat ground, I guess that placement would not be 
too critical, but accuracy would be affected when on sloping ground without 
resighting.

>> For instance:  are they using the same amount of gunpowder (same type, 
>> etc), >>

The 3" rifle used one pound of powder per loading per the manual. In 
demonstrations, we would use the same (don't know what they used in the 
live-fire exercise, but since it was target competition, I assume that they 
used an empirically-derived load to match the aluminum projectile, rather 
than the Civil War iron one) one-pound charge.

The 12-pdr Napoleon smoothbore was loaded with two to two-and-a-half pound 
charges, depending on type of projectile.  I would guess that the recoil 
would be significantly more than with the 3" rifle, although the Napoleon 
was a heavier piece and not rifled.

I would love to see a Napoleon in a live-fire demonstration. I bet it is a 
real thrill.

Any other questions would probably best be answered by an artillery expert 
like Esteemed Member Dave Shultz.

Regards,

Jack Kelly



> Also:  how was it different for a smoothbore Napoleon vs. the rifled 
> cannon?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Andy
>
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