Owly055
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
- Messages
- 3,008
- Reaction score
- 686
I always tend to go to extremes............ Yesterday I built a spud cannon from a piece of 2" inside diameter 2.5" diameter seamless stainless steel tubing about 3' long. It mounts in a frame that rests on the ground with a single bolt to tighten it for elevation. A piece of 1/2" steel was welded on the bottom end for a cap, and a 1/2" bolt passes through the barrel about 10" from the base to act as a stop for the spuds as well as a pivot point for elevation. A home made wing nut tightens it.... a very large one. The base has a hole threaded for 14mm sparkplug thread, and a stove ignitor (110vac) is mounted to the frame with one lead grounded and the other attached to a spark plug wire. The business end of the barrel is ground to a sharp taper to cut the spuds to fit. The mounting on top of the frame is two slotted holes so you can lift the barrel out very easily.
Once the spud is set to full depth, I light the acetylene cutting torch and adjust the flame, then stick it in the spark plug hole for about 20 seconds, pull it out and quickly screw the spark plug in finger tight. I step outside and drop the barrel in the mount and tighten it up, adjust the elevation and windage, walk back a ways and plug the cord I have on the ignitor in. The concussion is pretty awesome. I'm firing across main street over a vacant lot out over a hay field toward the highway (a mile away). Nobody in town is home this weekend except myself, but I'm sure I'd draw a crowd if they were. This is a small Montana town and people shoot off the back porch, etc all the time...... a pretty laid back community.
The gun carriage doesn't flip over.... which was my first concern. I built it long enough that it will lift and drop, but not flip. The first few shots I was a bit scared of it.... wasn't sure weather it would flip or the barrel would flip over. It seems pretty safe. The only issue I have with it is that 2" is too large.... it requires some pretty fair size spuds.
How's that for some Labor day fun? I'm taking it over to a friend's house about 1/4 mile away this afternoon. He has a shooting range in his yard with a gravel pile back stop. Last time I was over there we were shooting APIs out of his 50 caliber Barret. (50 caliber machine gun rounds in a bolt action rifle).
H.W.
Once the spud is set to full depth, I light the acetylene cutting torch and adjust the flame, then stick it in the spark plug hole for about 20 seconds, pull it out and quickly screw the spark plug in finger tight. I step outside and drop the barrel in the mount and tighten it up, adjust the elevation and windage, walk back a ways and plug the cord I have on the ignitor in. The concussion is pretty awesome. I'm firing across main street over a vacant lot out over a hay field toward the highway (a mile away). Nobody in town is home this weekend except myself, but I'm sure I'd draw a crowd if they were. This is a small Montana town and people shoot off the back porch, etc all the time...... a pretty laid back community.
The gun carriage doesn't flip over.... which was my first concern. I built it long enough that it will lift and drop, but not flip. The first few shots I was a bit scared of it.... wasn't sure weather it would flip or the barrel would flip over. It seems pretty safe. The only issue I have with it is that 2" is too large.... it requires some pretty fair size spuds.
How's that for some Labor day fun? I'm taking it over to a friend's house about 1/4 mile away this afternoon. He has a shooting range in his yard with a gravel pile back stop. Last time I was over there we were shooting APIs out of his 50 caliber Barret. (50 caliber machine gun rounds in a bolt action rifle).
H.W.