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New Loading Method?

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:13 pm
by CannonCreator
Yesterday My uncle came over for my sisters birthday, and he knows a lot about pretty much everything. When he was a kid him and his friends made spud guns. He wanted to see how my first cannon is, and so I took it out to a field with him.

So we go to start loading my cannon (my first one 4" diameter chamber 15" long, 36" long 2" diameter barrel)(bad CB ratio abviously). And he tells me the way they used to load there cannons in the older days (he's like 30). I never heard of it.

He said that what they would do is put the spud in the very tip of the barrel, then fill the chamber with there fuel sorce, then they would finally us the rammrod to push the spud the rest of the way down the barrel.

The reason they did this was to slightly pressurize the fuel inside the chamber. So we did a little test. First I did it my normal way(push the spud all the way down the barell, then fill). So It went a good 1/4 of a mile(around there). Then we tryed his way, and o WOW, it packed such a much harder punch. It went a good 55-75 MORE yards.

I was wondering if this is how everyone else loads there cannons and im just completely oblivious to it, Or if this is someting rarely done.

Give this a Shot if you dont already do this! Just make sure you have a spud with a good seal or you will lose a good amount of fuel pressure.

If you use a propane meter, You probably slighly pressurize the chamber, when mesuraing the psi of the propane.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:18 pm
by hi
i would first like to say that there is no possible way that you got it 3/4 mile.

then i would like to say that ive never heard of doing it that way. i think it would work as long as the potato really did fit tight in the barrel. what you are discribing is a very low powered hybrid. i think it would work. id try it but all the combustions i have at the moment are breech loaders.

it is nonetheless a good idea.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:25 pm
by DYI
Most of the pressure you create will either leak around the potato, or push it back up the barrel.

I would also like to add that I agree with the 3/4 mile claim being complete BS. Even something like the SWAT gun would have a hard time sending a potato that far.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:35 pm
by King_TaTer
i have heard of this method but have never really cared for it. i tend to lean torwards rifled barrels, so you can see why i dont use it . but anyway i suppose this would increase output, but not by much. oh and by the way even if you somehow got it 3/4 of a mile, how the hell did you locate it?

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:00 pm
by CannonCreator
hi wrote:i would first like to say that there is no possible way that you got it 3/4 mile.

then i would like to say that ive never heard of doing it that way. i think it would work as long as the potato really did fit tight in the barrel. what you are discribing is a very low powered hybrid. i think it would work. id try it but all the combustions i have at the moment are breech loaders.

it is nonetheless a good idea.

LOL... IM SO SORRY I MEANT TO TYPE 1/4 LOL, SORRY ABOUT THAT!

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:04 pm
by Fnord
This is a good idea for guns using metered propane, but for aerosoles it probably wont make much difference. Cleanout caps tend to leak though
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1/4 mile = 1,320 feet = 440 yards, which is impossible for a gun with a 3 foot barrel and a bad C:B.
Unless you've discovered some ultra-high energy fuel and plastics that can withstand it.

Image

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:18 pm
by Dornep
Wouldn't this method be a bit more dangerous? I can imagine getting impaled with my ram rod as some retard presses the sparker while I'm trying to force a potato down the barrel against back pressure.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:31 pm
by Fnord
I can imagine getting impaled with my ram rod as some retard presses the sparker while I'm trying to force a potato down the barrel against back pressure.
Don't let retards near your gun! :)
It's generally considered wise to never have any part of your body in front of the barrel. Even when a gun isn't loaded, I tend to feel a bit uncomfortable when it is aimed at/near me.

(Of course, for real firearms this is a must. A potato probably won't kill you but it can break bones/make huge bruises)

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:56 pm
by DirtyDan
I actually tried this method on my combustion a while ago when it was in the testing phase... it seemed like a pretty sweet idea at the time, and yeah, in the few tests I did using this method it did seem quite a bit louder, but I didn't really have an accurate way to measure the distances I was getting... had a bit more kick to it too if my memory serves me...

I didn't take the time to calculate how much more propane I should have been using so I kinda just estimated, but I would assume that if you calculated how much more air is in the chamber and adjusted your propane meter respectively (using metered propane seems like the only way to possibly take any advantage from this) then you 'might' actually see some more power in your shots... but of course you must take into account that the potato isn't going to give you a perfect seal... probably not even close, so you'll have to take that into consideration when making your calculations.

Either way, you end up having to muzzle load it, which almost seems like an insult to your cannon after making it a breech loader... not to mention how nice it is 'not' to have to carry around a 6 foot ram rod with you.

Even so, I still think this idea might be worth a deeper look into. As long as you keep a good fuel/air ratio, I don't see how using this method is in any way detrimental, and heck, if your cannon is for some reason a muzzle loader with metered propane then it seems like a pretty sweet idea to me...

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:19 pm
by MrCrowley
I too have also used this method. Un-metered combustions are too unreliable to test like that.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:17 am
by SpudBlaster15
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras nec placerat erat. Vivamus dapibus egestas nunc, at eleifend neque. Suspendisse potenti. Sed dictum lacus eu nisl pretium vehicula. Ut faucibus hendrerit nisi. Integer ultricies orci eu ultrices malesuada. Fusce id mauris risus. Suspendisse finibus ligula et nisl rutrum efficitur. Vestibulum posuere erat pellentesque ornare venenatis. Integer commodo fermentum tortor in pharetra. Proin scelerisque consectetur posuere. Vestibulum molestie augue ac nibh feugiat scelerisque. Sed aliquet a nunc in mattis.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:06 am
by CannonCreator
SpudBlaster15 wrote:
_Fnord wrote:1/4 mile = 1,320 feet = 440 yards, which is impossible for a gun with a 3 foot barrel and a bad C:B.
Unless you've discovered some ultra-high energy fuel and plastics that can withstand it.

Image
Agreed.

CannonCreator, the difference you noticed was most likely a result of the inconsistency of aerosol fueling.
um...... :idea: no.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:10 am
by MrCrowley
CannonCreator wrote:
SpudBlaster15 wrote:
_Fnord wrote:1/4 mile = 1,320 feet = 440 yards, which is impossible for a gun with a 3 foot barrel and a bad C:B.
Unless you've discovered some ultra-high energy fuel and plastics that can withstand it.

Image
Agreed.

CannonCreator, the difference you noticed was most likely a result of the inconsistency of aerosol fueling.
um...... :idea: no.
Ummmm....You don't know sh|t compared to SB15 so I think it's best if you just keep quiet and agree with him.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:54 am
by CannonCreator
MrCrowley wrote:
CannonCreator wrote:
SpudBlaster15 wrote:
Agreed.

CannonCreator, the difference you noticed was most likely a result of the inconsistency of aerosol fueling.
um...... :idea: no.
:idea: .... no

Ummmm....You don't know sh|t compared to SB15 so I think it's best if you just keep quiet and agree with him.

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:04 am
by SpudBlaster15
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras nec placerat erat. Vivamus dapibus egestas nunc, at eleifend neque. Suspendisse potenti. Sed dictum lacus eu nisl pretium vehicula. Ut faucibus hendrerit nisi. Integer ultricies orci eu ultrices malesuada. Fusce id mauris risus. Suspendisse finibus ligula et nisl rutrum efficitur. Vestibulum posuere erat pellentesque ornare venenatis. Integer commodo fermentum tortor in pharetra. Proin scelerisque consectetur posuere. Vestibulum molestie augue ac nibh feugiat scelerisque. Sed aliquet a nunc in mattis.