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<p>[QUOTE="springfld.arsenal, post: 135163, member: 54"]This cannon is now being plundered. That means the contents, if any, are being removed. This one contains many cannon balls in addition to rust, dirt, etc. Three balls, including one 6-pounder and two 8-pounders, are out so far. The cannon, which we know was used as ballast on the British Brig LINNET, was probably filled with cannon balls to add weight and thus make more space-efficient ballast. A small amount of molten zinc had been poured in the muzzle after the last ball was inserted to help keep the balls in the cannon during handling. Our plunderers had no way to pull on the first ball which was a couple of feet back from the muzzle, so they knocked it a bit toward the breech to free it, then tools were made to clean the front of the bore enough to let the balls pass. Various things were tried to pull them out, including a magnetron magnet and a shop vacuum cleaner. The vacuum seemed to work the best. They had tried putting compressed air in the vent but that didn't do anything.</p><p><img src="https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image19.jpeg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image21.jpeg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image22.jpeg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="springfld.arsenal, post: 135163, member: 54"]This cannon is now being plundered. That means the contents, if any, are being removed. This one contains many cannon balls in addition to rust, dirt, etc. Three balls, including one 6-pounder and two 8-pounders, are out so far. The cannon, which we know was used as ballast on the British Brig LINNET, was probably filled with cannon balls to add weight and thus make more space-efficient ballast. A small amount of molten zinc had been poured in the muzzle after the last ball was inserted to help keep the balls in the cannon during handling. Our plunderers had no way to pull on the first ball which was a couple of feet back from the muzzle, so they knocked it a bit toward the breech to free it, then tools were made to clean the front of the bore enough to let the balls pass. Various things were tried to pull them out, including a magnetron magnet and a shop vacuum cleaner. The vacuum seemed to work the best. They had tried putting compressed air in the vent but that didn't do anything. [IMG]https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image19.jpeg[/IMG] [IMG]https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image21.jpeg[/IMG] [IMG]https://springfieldarsenal.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/image22.jpeg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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Help with unknown French cannon type
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