Hmm ... this should be interesting. Heh. From a manufacturing standpoint, the BC style (who first came up with this type?) flat faced breech is easier to make than a Foster style breech. The BC flat face type only requires a good grinder or even a hand file to make. The Foster style needs a drill press and the correct size drill (or mill) bit. Performance wise, it seems to me that the Foster type may shoot a little harder than the flat face breech. Some feet per second (fps) testing we did last fall showed the Foster style was about 20 - 30 fps faster on average. For consistant fps, the BC flat face breech is better. By the way, this isn't saying the BC flat face breech lacks fps or doesn't shoot hard! Both shoot hard enough to punch holes in balsa. To me, the Foster breeches were easier to tweak by hand than the BC flat face breech. Yet, the BC type was more forgiving to tweak than the Foster type breech. Of course, all of the above is totally my opinion and may not reflect actual performance of other people's cannons.
I have used both types. I have no idea which shoots harder, or anything like that. I think the main difference is in tweaking. Most Foster types that I have seen have a hex nut of some sort, and are fairly easy to tweak. The BC style don't have a hex head, but are knurled, so they are also fairly easy to tweak. Even if your fingers are wet. My suggestion would be to try both and see which you like better. And when you decide which one you like, to make sure that all of your cannons are one style. Otherwise having spare barrels and such can take up extra space. Mikey
I use both types and I don't find it a problem keeping stock of the parts for both. Fabricating either without a lathe is questionable and not easy, quality is the major issue. Both shoot hard and neither is "better", I like the "foster" type. The ferrels on the BC type have a shorter contact area and tend to pull off and fail in that manner.
Also foster types tend to have better barrel alignment since there is more holding it in place. (slip fit vs just being held in place by the nut)
I have used BC Guns since 2003. I took Rookie of the Year that NATS and all because of a just a few things. Most important was my ship was well put together and tested, no short cuts, no complicated crap to break, and everything was well tested before NATS. That all meant more time on the water, less time on the bench! You veteran captains know what I mean there... The best thing was I had a brand new set of BC cannons in my QE stern. I am not BS'ing one bit here, I tweaked the morning of day one aftern the speed test and DID NOT HAVE TO RE_TWEAK ONE SINGLE CANNON ALL WEEK LONG! With a little pipe tape on the threads, the BC cannons held the tweak all week. The fosters are great too, but I am fond of BC cannons. BTW the quad sterns from that QE are now in my Mutsu and still kicking butt, no rust, same springs.... very high quality in the making of the guns..
