It may have a handgrip like a handgun but when you put the butt on it and it has a recoil pad that is a rifle!! Don't care what you call it - it is a rifle!! JMHO!! A big rifle BYW!! GGG!

It's a big assed rifle. Must be fun to be his freind.

I just don't have plans to go after anything that requires that big a rifle!!! LMAO!!

Hell it's just a toy for this young wildcatter. He's really enjoying what he's doing. He's a smart young man. Nothing lazy about him. GGG

Yep! He is grinning!!! LMAO!!

I was grinning watching him grin. GGG

Heck of a gun! Reminds me of the grin on my face with the 50AE!!! LMAO!!

I'll bet. GGG

I have a friend that is a certified welder! He likes guns and I am talking with him about building a cannon! We have not decided how big in diameter nor how long just yet but there is a discussion going on! Never built a cannon!!! We may have a new venture beginning here !!! LAMO!!

I built a small one many years ago. It was only 7" long with a 5/8" bore. I shot ball bearing out of it and used firecracker powder and a fuse. It worked fairly well. When I was serving my apprenticeship I help and engineer at work build a 26" long 1 1/2" bore out of bronze. He used black powder in it and round stock pieces for a projectile. It worked also. His had a carrage that he built out of wood. It looked authentic.

Most likely will be something along a junior size to start with but I really really want to build one that would weigh around 2K to 3K pounds!!! Something that would shoot a projectile the size of a basketball or so!!! GGG!

For a basket ball size, it may have to weigh a little more. They go by pounds of projectile, so you should get a lifting device for what ever you are going to toss around. LMAO
Here's a link that may interest you.



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Now that is just pretty cool!!! To be able to make a living building these things just has to be a dream come true!!! GGG!

There is probably all kinds of cool things out there to do,if you put your mind to it. I might like to try painting firearms and other things for people.

I could mess up dot to dot!!! Not a painter at all!!! GGG! I can work with steel and weld the heck out of stuff but I am not as good as a certified welder! I know who is though and know where he is!!! LMAO!!

I would rather turn it out of bronze. It may be a little more work but you are almost guaranteed it will hold together. Besides you can polish it out to be bright and shiny. GGG

My best bud that owns the batteries store used to be a maintenance supervisor at a foundry, one up north for a car manufacturer and then one here in TX that made smaller stuff! We have talked about rigging up to pour one to test our ability to produce a small one and prove it is something we could do on a little larger scale! Who knows we just might try a little larger one if it works out! I know where there is room to do that stuff where there are no restrictions on us constructing one of them.GGG!

Just make sure it's a good pure. You dont need hollow spots(blow holes) in the casting. If it's cast iron, you should season it first. Seasoning means setting it out in the weather(4 seasons) so it can acclimate. General Motors and other manufacturors would do that in the northern states and Canada to their engine blocks. It makes the cast iron part stonger.

There are several tricks of the trade that my bud picked up from Pontiac while he was there. Casting the smaller ones (300 to 500 pounds) should not be a real problem. Nor\mal shop stuff that I already have most of will work to get it going and we can handle the size of them without much else. We will see probably sometime next summer when we run out of stuiff to do!! LMAO!!

Like you are going to run out of things to do. LMAO

Well some times are slower than others!! GGG!

Is it ever slow enough to built a pattern, then a mold to pour the couple hundred pounds of bronze?????

Yeah!! We would just have to block some time out and work around it! When my bud worked at the foundry they had specific days that were marked off for pours and they started early and went until late! Once the pour had cooled for a while they just knocked the sand mold off ot it and let it air cool until the next day! Darn stuff stays hot for a long time!! JMHO!!

When you have a mass as in some castings, it can take quite a while to cool down. The dirt in them places is out standing. Very dirty job.