Anyone recognize the mfg or if it is a decoration piece or a firing? I just checked Hern's website and it doesnt look like anything they currently produce.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=84 ... 4977365743

usrifle is the resident cannon aficionado…

Yeah, that's not a Herns tube. Just a quick look and it appears the trunnions are welded on so it's not a 1 piece casting. Hard to say what it is without better pics.

EDIT: Found the site and grabbed another pic. With the thickness of the tube and that small bore, I would fire it after an inspection. Use only cannon grade or single "F" black powder though.

It's modern steel, that's no casting and should be very strong.

A good blank load to start would be 300 grains and a half a hotdog bun as wadding. I'm assuming it has a fuse hole though, I think I see one.

My Herns tube is a casting with steel liner and 1 3/4" bore and My max load is 700 grains. The cannon in the pics is modern steel and far thicker walls and a smaller bore.
I wonder what they want for it?

I'm tempted to see... I'm friends with the owner, and he cuts me deals, so that would factor. Honestly i want one to actually safely shoot, so i'm leaning toward a hern, i just havent had a reason to go to idaho

The price of a Herns tube includes shipping, came in a nice crate when I ordered mine. The Hern Tubes are plenty strong with the High strength Steel liners in the casting, but not as strong as an all steel tube. (Depending on the steel of course, but likely much stringer).

That tube is stronger than a Hern just due to modern Steel and the wall thickness, but I would want to know how deep the bore goes. If it's not the wall thickness to the cap, that would be a concern. The fuse hole looks a bit far back to me too, but that's just based on the pic.

See if you can find out the bore diameter, If I had to guess I would say an inch.

Aesthetically, the Hern tubes are more attractive as they are reproductions of the real guns, but if that's not important I'm sure that tube would be a lot of fun.

I built a Naval Carriage out of an old desk i demo'd, looks pretty good but always intended to build a nicer one. It's on casters from a Harbor freight 4 wheel dolly right now, but I have "Correct" dia. steel wheels and axles if I ever get around to it.

My neighbors don't really appreciate it though.

If you get it, I have a spare set of Trunnion caps you will need for a Carriage I would sell. They are Herns Caps.

I've been figuring if/when i got a cannon, i'd probably make a basic carriage from '3O's ford front axle stuff, since i have a lot of extras, so i could hitch it behind my pickup, and mabey make a more traditional carriage later on

I'll probably go check it out tomorrow after work

You can cobble something up I'm sure, I did.

With that trajectory, no wonder the neighbor’s mad…

If you have any kinda decent steel cannon, you cant load to much powder.


Ive shot f, ff, fff, ffff and garbage oddball mystery powder through mine. Its a 1" bore and .5" wall DOM cold rollled steel barrel.

Ive NEVER measured powder. Its about the loudest when it filled about half the barrel length. Anything more than that and it just blows the extra powder out the end.

I always used fresh/green grass for wadding. I never thought about using bread. Although the birds would love it. Lol

I was using Herns guidance for my loads, and 700 grains of Cannon grade is pretty amazing. The best wadding I have found is actually the Hawaiin sweet rolls. They are a bit sticky and make an excellent wad.

Powder in foil and a light tamp. Then the rolls with a good tamp. It's pretty spectacular. but there isn't anything left for the birds. I can go with fuse or a percussion caps for ignition after piercing the foil with a probe.

Kinda cool to yank a lanyard and have it go off. It's not reliable though due to the tiny pierced hole in the foil, the fuses are everytime though.

I still haven't loaded it with a Golf ball, (The bore size) but I have seen video's with them going through a Car door.



There's a wedge on the Cap end to adjust that. I can go Point blank or up to around 30 degrees elevation. I need to take it somewhere like Ocean shores and launch golf balls for range. Hehehe.

Should shoot 1000 yards.

I like my idea better, at least with one neighbor of mine…

Grapeshot, it can handle that. Hehehe.

Address sent.


(That was a joke, to our less-humorous members…)…

Wait....isn't that JukkOu's address?

Can I play too?

So got this one I rescued from a tweeker infested piece of property I cleaned up.

It’s a 1” bore with 3/4” walls just below the muzzle flare.

I’ve never even considered firing it due to the unknowns of it.

I just have it on display on my hearth.

It looks like some genius has attempted to use a 209 shotshell primer as an ignition source.

I definitely would give it a good cleaning and check over before even attempting a live fire.

I like the bread or roll wad idea.

Any suggestions on a safe trial load and with what powder?

I don’t wanna make the evening news!