Here\'s something to add to your list of things to make!

Hi Gat Fans:
   Are you tired of making little complicated Gatling Gun parts? Here’s something I made a few years ago and it’s a real blast to shoot! I load it with a big scoop of  FFF black (Goex - not substitute) an  light the fuse an BOOOOOOOM. It will rock the whole valley. It weighs about 37LBs but it will still turn over if the muzzle is not pointed up at a sufficient angle. It’s the most fun thing I have to shoot. I made it from a set of plans for William F. Green copyright 1981. They were advertised in The Home Shop Machinist. It’s a lot easer to make and fewer parts than a Gat and I just painted it. Does anyone know where you can still buy Mr. Green’s drawings?
R-R
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R-R,

What is the tube made from? What is the bore diameter?

nitewatchman

The previous pics were of the \"DICTATOR\" the largest mortor in the civil war.
Here\'s another W.F. Green Cannon
It\'s a 3\" PARROTT FEILD RIFLE also from W.F. Green.
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MAN! I need to get out the dust rag!

Hi Nitewatchman
The Dictator is all steel. The barrel is 4150 steel and in it\'s previous life was part of a big shaft in some old machine. Part of a drop hammer forge I think!
The bore is 1 5/8 bore. I should have made the bore \"small soup can\" size but I didn\'t think of it at that time so I have never shot a projectile in it. I made a round ball mold in that size but have never cast any balls. I think a lead ball 1 5/8\" would weigh a 1.5LBs or something. At the distances I have to shoot it would go all the way through a house and keep going. I shoot it with just powder and a good wad. I have fired it for friends and there 8 and 10 year old children and it scares them  :cry: Even after I warn them that it is \"VERY LOUD\" but the adults like it :lol: . I am currently looking for a 10\" or 12\" peice of steel to make one twice as big. I don\'t know that the scale is on Mr. Green drawing but you can Google \"The Dictator\" and see that it was pretty big. Here\' what I found. 1 5/8 bore would be 1/8 scale.

13-inch seacoast mortar, Model 1861, \"The Dictator\" on railroad cars during the siege of Petersburg
[attachment=0]13inMortarOnRailcarNearPetersburg[1].jpeg[/attachment]

I started out to make a simple noisemaker for the 4th and ended up with this, thanks to R-R  :lol:  :lol:

1/16th-scale \"Dictator\" 13\" seacoast mortar-- half the size of the model at the start of this thread, bored for a 3/4\" ball (although I may end up making a golf-ball bore tube too :mrgreen: )



Needs some finishing and cleanup and paint, but I thought y\'all would like to see it.

2011 is the 150th anniversary of the M-1861 13\" Seacoast mortar.  The Gatling anniversaries will be coming around soon

A friend gave me this the other day. Made from 2-1/2\" solid bronze with a 1-3/16\" bore 3-1/2\" deep. Any thoughts on what I should use for a charge to fire a wad out of it. I assume that\'s all it was ever intended to do as it has been fired, but I don\'t see the wisdom in firing a projectile straight up. I may machine a base for elevation adjustment for it though.