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How I Homebuilt a Howitzer

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I built this one in high school around 1977. I turned the barrel from a piece of heavy truck axle from the scrap bin. It was bored .75 caliber. I had to heat is cherry red and bury in sand to anneal it. Then rehardened it after turning. The cariage base was a piece of barn oak which was probably over 100 years old back then. Sides were also oak. We usually just crammed rolled-up newspaper or a wad of steel wool in the bore (steel wool comes out like a Roman Candle) Ive always thought of making real projectiles from pieces of cut-off steel rod. I once set Dad's garden on fire with it firing steel wool, so be carefull when doing that.
 
I am a Master Instructor of Muzzle Loading Artillery with the NMLRA.

The First Mad River Light Artillery located in Springfield, Ohio offers yearly cannoneer safety training yearly.

Please don’t risk you life or limbs with homemade guns. Like any other firearm, get reliable training.

This one day class allows you critical safety training on a British Light 6 pounder Battalion Field Gun and. Civil War 3" Ordnance Rifle.

Google First Mad River Light Artillery.
 
TarnishedCopper said:
View attachment 83939I built this one in high school around 1977. I turned the barrel from a piece of heavy truck axle from the scrap bin. It was bored .75 caliber. I had to heat is cherry red and bury in sand to anneal it. Then rehardened it after turning. The cariage base was a piece of barn oak which was probably over 100 years old back then. Sides were also oak. We usually just crammed rolled-up newspaper or a wad of steel wool in the bore (steel wool comes out like a Roman Candle) Ive always thought of making real projectiles from pieces of cut-off steel rod. I once set Dad's garden on fire with it firing steel wool, so be carefull when doing that.
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In the late 1980s, I brought a small homemade cannon like this to high school for a JROTC presentation on old artillery. I even fired it during the presentation inside the classroom (with prior permission from the teachers, old retired Army Sgts). Can you imagine if you did that today in school?

BTW, your cannon is a lot nicer than the one I had.
 
I built a 1/2 scale 6 pound field gun many years ago (my first lathe project) , if you load with tightly wadded newspaper you will get the full flash, boom and recoil without the projectile.
 
That gun is not actually a Howitzer.

A Mortar fires high angle at a (relatively) low velocity.

A Gun Fires at a low angle with a high velocity.

A Howitzer is capable of doing any combination of both.

That is a nice Cannon though.

My wife would never allow it but if she would I would totally have one
 
xdman said:
Mines a repro of an 1841 Mountain Howitzer
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Wow, that is really cool. Where have I been? It never occurred to me that I could have built a cannon. But I can tell you back in the 60s I had fun with a carbide cannon consisting of two three lb coffee cans.
 
Mike H. said:
Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “How I Homebuilt a Howitzer” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/how-to-make-a-cannon/.

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Great read! Couple of things:

1) If anyone has ever been around the Amish, you know what I'm talking about. Such a kind (and brilliant) people. While I'm not Amish, most of my family lives in or around Amish Country so I'm out there sharing the road with horse/buggies and not shying away from a wave.

2) Solid step by step. I'm surprised the cannon barrels were that easy to find. Incredible.

3) Enjoy!
 
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A friend of mine somehow came across about a 6 inch piece of barrel cut-off from a military weapon which was large enough in size to fire a "C-sized" flashlight battery. He welded it to a steel plate making it vertical and welded some supporting angle pieces of 1/4 inch steel between the barrel sides and the plate. It made a heck of a noise. I always wondered what or who was hit by the falling batteries.
 
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