The Liberal Gun Club Forum

can i take a given volume, a given quantity of FF black powder and calculate how much chamber pressure it will generate before firing?

Not that I am aware of. OTOH, I am not aware of any modern steel centerfire cartridge firearm that can get enough BP stuffed into it's case to make it go kaboom. Is there a specific reason or simple curiosity?

home made cannon

Ah, well now, that's an interesting question. First questions would be about construction - Cast? Machined tube with a threaded breach like a BP rifle barrel? Iron, Steel or Bronze?

Are you making a copy of a historical weapon? The cast bronze 12 lb "Napoleon" would be good for this purpose, for example.

its 2" sch 40 steel pipe. the rupture pressure i looked up was 6800 psi i believe. i only use 60 grains of FF in a chamber that's roughly a pint in volume. plus i only shoot undersized wood projectiles so the odds of a blockage is low

seniorelmeowmeow wrote:its 2" sch 40 steel pipe. the rupture pressure i looked up was 6800 psi i believe. i only use 60 grains of FF in a chamber that's roughly a pint in volume. plus i only shoot undersized wood projectiles so the odds of a blockage is low

By what I know you'd be fine, but what do I really know?

There are other sights to ask this question at, my guess is they would tell you that you should not use any steel pipe since it is made by rolling flatsteel into a tube and welded.

I'll have to find it again but I don't think that it exceeds over 9,000 to 10,000 psi.