I am currently working on installing triple stern guns in my Des Moines. It is very unclear how to mount the cannons in the boat. So I am looking for any tips or photos of how you guys have mounted your cannons so I can create a game plan to installing mine. Thanks Jeremy
Particulatly with multiple guns, my preference is to build an assembly that holds two or three 1/2 inch long brass tubes. The tubes are ons size above the barrels so that not only are the guns held but the barrels are held in a fixed relationship to each other. The assemble can be mounted in a fixed position or can be mounted so that it can be adjusted, say for range.
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Thanks for the tips guys!!! I just finished it and here are a few pictures. I did change a few things, one I turned the tubes that lead from the 90 to the "T" 180 degrees. The yellow cap is for plugging a 2" PVC line for a new construction pressure test. The Al bar, is one I milled down and drilled three holes that house brass sleeves and hold the copper tube tight but not to tight. The black rubber hose is gas line from the local hardware store. Jeremy
Bend the end of the magazines up closer to the deck. That way the BB's roll down hill into the T of the gun. The mags bend quite easily. The way you have them now, they may have a feed issue.
or more important... why is one (possibly both) a blank? (either that or it is really getting mangled durring ejection)
Those looked like the blanks we fired through our M-16's during FTX while I was in the Army. Re-enactors use blanks for what they do, so that would be my best guess.
They look too small to be 50 cal rounds. My first guess would have 7.62 but the pic could be distorting the size.
In my humble opion, the neck of the jacket does not look small enough for a 7.62 round. I know that I had some 50 cal cartridges laying around, But I think that someone disposed of them behind my back. If I am ever able to get to that far corner of the basement, I will have to check to see if they are still around.
The proportions, as captured in the photograph, of the necked-down section of the casing versus the diameter of the primer look quite consistent with .50 BMG rounds. However, based upon the photograph alone, they could almost pass for mutilated Russian 12.7 x108 DShK casings. If you think .50 cartridges are something, wait until you see a couple of spent 30mm Oerlikon shells...
