previous post next post  

Myth Busted

By Boquisucio on December 7, 2011 | | Comments (26)
What a way to celebrate Santa Bárbara's big day!



Boq

Share This Article:

Share |

Categories:

26 Comments

By NevadaSteve on December 7, 2011 9:29 AM
Anyone seen John or Heimdall lately? And where exactly is this Vance character located?

On second thought he isn't worth the powder.
 
By BillT on December 7, 2011 9:47 AM
Proving -- once again -- that this sort of foofaraw is best left to the trained professionals.
 
By Chuck Simmins on December 7, 2011 10:01 AM
Emphasizes the real damage solid shot did in the olden days. Reading that a bouncing cannon ball  could kill or maim dozens is one thing. Seeing the inertia it carries is quite another.
 
By MAJ Mike on December 7, 2011 11:10 AM
The gun crew had sampled too much Artillery Punch and Mr. Vice was remiss in his safety checks.
 
By Heltau on December 7, 2011 11:22 AM
KA-CHING!!!, and right before Christmass.  They be getting a lot of money from Myth Busters for this blunder.  A good 2 million would be a good start to hit them with.  Or if they are out of work, a permente job with the cast and crew so do well also.
I wonder if busters will air this episode and what was it about.  Two miles away, and no one was hurt.  Lucky busters they are.
Spell check is not working, not good for me typing and spelling.
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 7, 2011 12:28 PM
Some of the accounts are saying it was a 6" ball.  A 32 pound iron ball has a diameter of 6.1",   So, call it 30#.  I'm guessing at least a pound of powder, likely FFg.

Went through a cinderblock wall, bounced off a rock, went at least 700 yards (looking it up on one of the map sites, I had made the distance from the range to the house closer to 1500 yards), through a front door and out a second story wall, bounced off a roof, then through the back window of a van and into the dashboard.

These boys need to get out to Greyling.  Or at least a N-SSA shoot.
   
By Casey on December 7, 2011 1:56 PM
There's a vid on YouTube that gives a little bit more detail. Apparently a misfire caused the barrel of the cannon to rise, whereupon the cannonball went over the barriers designed to stop it within the park.

Oh, and that hole in the wall we see in Boq's lnk? That's the exit hole... ;)
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 7, 2011 2:25 PM
How the heck can a misfire cause the barrel to elevate?
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 7, 2011 2:53 PM
Another reason that Heimdall has only fired frangible projectiles, too.  I have some 3in solid shot.  For display.
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 7, 2011 3:38 PM
"Frangible projectiles"???

Is that the fancy name for canister?
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 7, 2011 3:47 PM
Well, I suppose, in a sense, canister is frangible...

frangible (ˈfrændʒɪb ə l)
— adj
breakable or fragile

[C15: from Old French, ultimately from Latin frangere to break]

frangi'bility
— n
'frangibleness
— n

In Heimdall's case, aluminum-clad cement projectiles with an excess of sand so that they shatter into little bits and sand particles on contact - and the aluminum casing (aka soda can) fragments into pieces with no real carrying inertia.  And are fired into a hillside with minimal chance for a ricochet, and, frankly, I'm at a loss to see how a misfire would cause an increase in quadrant elevation since the tube is physically blocked by the elevation screw. 
 
By Grumpy on December 7, 2011 3:59 PM
 "Did you ever get one of those days, when nothing goes right..." as the old song goes.

Well, BillT, do you see what happens when you leave it to the professionals?

The question remains, "Professional *what*????

Kiddies, remember the rulez!  **Argghhh!**
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 7, 2011 4:20 PM
Ah!  We had tried something like that with #1 Tall cans filled with portland cement, also with - hmmm...can't rememer the brand - FixAll?  Kind of a yellowish powder, mix with water, use for patching - for a 3" Ordnance Rifle.  My thought had been that if we left a little flange of the can it would obdurate into the rifling. 

Fired some and couldn't see where the heck they were hitting.  Watched some video of it - they were coming out as powder.  Maybe a few little chunks.  Tried it with the cans half filled with lead.  Worked somewhat better until the lead slug blew out and left the walls of the can expanded into the rifling.  Got the sponge into in and SLOWLY pulled it out.  Had to twist it along the rifling.  Interesting thing was, the pressure from the propellant had upset the lead into the rifling.
 
By jim b on December 7, 2011 4:22 PM
Okay so when I retire from my job .... I definitely ain't working with these meatballs.

The only thing missing from this was one of them hollering  ..."Hold my beer and watch this Bubba!"
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 7, 2011 7:24 PM
I have a feeling that the gun in the first photo (also seen on the left side of the second photo) is the one used to launch the errant ball.

http://laslow.net/2011/12/07/mythbusters-and-damage-control/

Looks real nice, doesn't it?  Especially compared to what looks like a Steen built 1841 6 Pounder.
 
By Martin Morehouse on December 7, 2011 8:04 PM
I don't think this was a misfire, since those don't go 'bang'. Bad aim, bad carriage design or construction, carriage movement during a hangfire, or just bad luck and a bad backstop seem more like it.
 
By Skip on December 7, 2011 8:58 PM
At my range someone missed the berm, put a hole in the side window of a farmers tractor, as he was driving it.
Man was some kinda pissed. Changed a lot of range rulz.
Private club without ROs but it hasen't happened since.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 8, 2011 7:05 AM
Tory's gun is really more a mortar, and looks like a bowling-ball mortar at that.  Not a precision instrument in direct fire - especially with that short carriage.  I wonder what procedures they used for direct/indirect fire safety analysis...  beyond "that looks about right."

Me, I admit to toying with the idea of getting a b-ball mortar, the property is long enough to fire one safely - in the *indirect" mode, when the descending leg of the trajectory is steep.  I've got a pendulum hausse and front sight peg inbound to provide a more accurate aim for Heimdall (as well as for him to be properly dressed out).  I've already got a satisfactory gunner's quadrant that fits his tube properly, albeit not period correct, it being a Brit WWI instrument.
 
By Chuck Simmins on December 8, 2011 8:21 AM
the king of the battlefield suburb
 
By Colin on December 8, 2011 2:12 PM
I don't know, pretty crew mates, blowing stuff up and shooting guns, sure beats my day job. Stuff happens, overshoots at Ft lewis, practice missile fired from a Canadian destroyer into a house near a harbour, even the pro's have their share of mistakes.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 8, 2011 2:16 PM
Colin, you interrupt our smug-party at your own risk...!
 
By Colin on December 8, 2011 4:22 PM
We had an 'accident" firing off blank cannons in our armouries back in the late 70's. The biggest cannon named "BFG"(about 3') was loaded by some artillery officers who were rather loaded themselves, seems they got to carried away with tamping the charge down and perhaps a tad to much powder.
End result was a smoking hole in the parade square, several holes in the roof, portions of the gun and carriage were found scattered around for a few blocks, in fact one piece was found 20 years later when they did some major repairs to the building. The Sgt. mess has the muzzle mounted on it's wall as a reminder to the NCO's why officers should not be allowed to play with dangerous toys.
 
By jim b on December 8, 2011 4:23 PM
'practice missile fired from a Canadian destroyer into a house near a harbour'

Checkfiring on the Canadian jokes.
 
By Joe in N Calif on December 8, 2011 5:42 PM
That should be "checking fire on..."
 
By jim b on December 8, 2011 10:17 PM
:)