I know this gun won't qualify for NSSA competition (made too late) but I'd like to ask your help since you might know the answer. The 16-pounder rifle (3.6 in.) was designed for use with studded shells. Good molds for those shells are very costly, somewhat hard to operate, etc. Since I don't think I'll be shooting this gun all that much, I'm going for the simplest (cheapest) possible projectile mold that has a decent chance of casting shootable projectiles. The first thing that comes to mind is the trash can or air rifle pellet type, which I've used successfully in 3-inch guns. I usually shoot at 100 yards so the projectile doesn't have to hit something a mile away.
Note that there's a smaller-than-usual percentage of the area of the bore that is covered by rifled grooves, due to the unique rifling style used in this gun. If the projectile didn't spin up much, it still might do OK at that range, who knows. However it is hard to imagine with the forces involved, that the projectile would not spin up in the bore, even with those narrow grooves.
Anyone have any predictions or suggestions before I start trying to make the mold?
At the link below there's a slideshow of the gun in question. It has some kind of ballistic damage that won't hurt its safety at the modest loads we'll be using. I don't know how it was damaged like that.
Link to slideshow of cannon:
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/c ... 8d6c8f.pbw[/img]
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