Reamer Made to Correct a Large Bore....Reaming successfully completed

[Daryl]

That bore looks amazing to me, Dave. Well done.

[davec2]

Daryl.....slightly better picture of the bore.  And yes, it really looks great to me.



And here is the ball mold that I need to rework now to better match the cleaned up bore......







And here is a new, better fitting worm for the gun as well......

[Craig Wilcox]

Dave, heartiest congrats on a job well done!  I will let you bore any cannons I find laying around.

It really is amazing how smooth you got it, and no ridge between the original bore and what you've done.  Are you using aluminum or lead balls?

thanks for the info on the little cart - looks as though you could use  a pair of dogs to tow it around.  Until a strange dog comes onto the scene...

[davec2]

Craig,

Thanks.  This worked out better than I had hoped.  I cast the round shot out of zinc.  Fairly easy to melt and cast and very close to the same density as cast iron.......

[Tim Crosby]

 The bore looks Great, I would have never expected it to be so smooth looking, Excellent job. You work fast, if I figured right all this in 13 days. How much does the ball weigh?

    Tim

[Daryl]

Food for thought, Dave. We (& others) did fairly well with cloth/patched balls in the cannon's we used at Rendezvous, from 1 1/2" bore to 3".
I know it isn't period correct, but we were more interested in accuracy, after all, it was a contest.

[davec2]

Tim - the ball in zinc weighs just short of 4 pounds (3.86).  In iron, the same size ball would weigh 4.25 pounds.  In lead it would be 6.13.

Daryl - many years ago I tried using a patch made out of a greased piece of an old wool blanket (the ball had about 0.050" of windage).  I got the ball stuck part way down the bore and had to hammer is home.  I haven't tried it again since, and if i make the ball mold only 0.005 under bore diameter, there won't be any room for a patch....unless I wrap the ball in wet silk...but then, that might work !

[Clint]

Great thread, and a very nice bore. I am reminded of an excursion my wife and I made with the kids about twenty years ago. We wanted to take the kids to the science museum in Boston, so we drove to Providence R.I. and took the train into Boston. We were early for the train, so we went into the state house which is very close by. Lots of interesting stuff in the building, among them is a 1860 vintage  six pound field cannon. The gun received a direct hit from a twelve pound ball and the ball was stuck in the muzzle. How cool! A couple years later the gun was 'renovated and they x-rayed the barrel. The barrel had sat in the state house since the 1870's and was loaded with a six pound ball and a full combat charge of powder. I couldn't help but think of "dad" back in the 1950's posing with a lit cigarett by the touch hole.

[Dphariss]

Very nice. Very impressed with the entire project.

[davec2]

Thanks !!  I'm kind of amazed it all worked as well as it did !!

[flatsguide]

Dave, I bought a Teslong bore scope a few weeks ago. It is the solid 28” model. I don’t have anything to compare it with. It’s not at the Rayleigh criterion but the resolution is very good. One thing I did was turn small plastic discs that friction fit on the bore scope tube and are about .010”  under the bore diameter you wish to inspect. That “fix” keeps a constant focus as you wander down the bore. Well worth it...so far.
Cheers Richard
Regarding you cannon, I expect to see minute of barn door accuracy as the results of your “rebore”.