Cast or Not

[hotfxr]

Hopefully this will show up. This is what I cast for cannon balls. Haven't seen anything like this on a shelf at any store.

It looks neat. How does it fly? Does it tend to tumble?
Is that cast from lead? If not, what?

We have only shot 5 of these so far. two at 100 yards with two ounces of powder left round holes in the plywood we shot at. Never found the projectiles. One shot with 1/2 ounce of powder into a very close 2X4 shattered the wood and ricocheted off a tree 10 yards behind it and kind of smooshed the projectile. The last two were with 3 ounces of powder shooting at a cliff about a mile away and we never figured out what happened. Too far away to see it hit, even with our cheap spotting scope.  Even with just 1/2 ounce of powder there was no tracking it, just too fast.
Next time we are aiming it at Hanshi's car, probably packed with tannerite. Then we can see how accurate it is. (Hanshi never liked that car anyway)
The one in the picture is 12 ounces of lead. The ones we shot were 14 ounces of lead and about 1/4" taller.  For the next batch I am going for 16 ounces and they should be another 1/4" taller. We are now in our nasty fire season so I won't be shooting projectiles again until fall when it starts raining again.

[Hanshi]

  Oh, the car!  I think you'll have better results if you cast them out of iron like the originals.  Penetration is better, weight is a little less (more velocity) and they're reusable.  Not sure how to cast them but I'm pretty sure they didn't machine each one; but what do I know?  I suppose they could have been individually filed round from cubes by folks being paid by the hour; I'd kinda like THAT job.  But doesn't mom drive it from time to time? 

[hotfxr]

The sides are knurled using parts of the mold in a lathe. We don't do that any more, takes forever and didn't seem to make a difference.

I didn't mean the old Caddy that mom drives. I meant the Pinto you used when you told my girlfriend that you were me from the future and you came back in time just to date her again and you took her up to the lake to watch the submarine races. That car. 

[William]

Hopefully this will show up. This is what I cast for cannon balls. Haven't seen anything like this on a shelf at any store.

This resembles the old Buffalo bullets "ball-et".

[Red Badger]

That is the problem when you build something like Bruce... you have to piece together odds and ends to make it work. 

  Now my cannon on the other hand came with a mold and all the pieces and parts to operate it from the get go.... :)

[hotfxr]

Bruce is just fine and I could go ahead and cast round balls as I have the mold for the new size. The problem is with my ability to work a three piece mold while holding onto a ladle of molten lead. As per usual, operator error on my part. 

[Hanshi]

The sides are knurled using parts of the mold in a lathe. We don't do that any more, takes forever and didn't seem to make a difference.

I didn't mean the old Caddy that mom drives. I meant the Pinto you used when you told my girlfriend that you were me from the future and you came back in time just to date her again and you took her up to the lake to watch the submarine races. That car. 

Okay, lets just set the record straight here.  First of all the only thing that held that old Pinto together was the Bondo that covered it.  Furthermore, your "girlfriend" had already dumped you, not to mention her saying she thought I looked just like you only not as scruffy.  And the submarine races were HER idea!  How was I to know there were no such things as "submarine races"?