Ed Shoots His 40MM Cannon

Ed fields his custom-made 40mm antique blackpowder benchrest cannon. Note his novel bass-ackwards projectiles, we call 'em "boattail wadcutters." Note the novel recoil control system, which worked quite well. The little beast has a nice bark (the cannon, NOT Ed!)
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[cannonmn]

Black powder does not impact-detonate, it needs a spark or ember to set it off. If that wasnt' the first shot he'd fired that day it was an ember left from a previous shot. If it was the first shot of the day, that was a very unusual accident indeed.

[PyR0Star]

1:38 the cannon next to it, what is that???? That looks wicked!!!

[cannonmn]

@PyR0Star That's the 32-barrel machinegun. We did a video on that too, look it up.

[Rep0007]

OK so the part where he pounds the shell back onto the *black powder* charge with that wooden cylinder... isn't there like a 30% chance that this "tapping" will impact-detonate the black powder? Blowing the wood ram like, through his shoulder or something hideous like that?

[cannonmn]

@Rep0007 Black powder is very sensitive to sparks and flame, but not to shock, pressure, impact, etc. It was used as the filler in explosive projectiles, even armor-piercing ones, for that reason.

[Tsudoshi09]

What is the purpose of this piece? was it intended for military use? thank you

[cannonmn]

@Tsudoshi09 This is strictly a fun-gun, made for recreational shooting at inanimate targets.

[NeoNSPETSNAZ]

@cannonmn

Recently a man was seriously injured near where I live by tamping down blackpowder in a muzzleloader. The powder impact-detonated and sentt the ramrod into his shoulder.

[mlindsay527]

Shooting that cannon would make me feel better if all my hay had been rained on!

[MrJohnmalcolm18]

BANG ON!!

[glajl]

VOTE Ron Paul

[BassmanSW]

@NeoNSPETSNAZ There may have been some hot embers or something left over from the previous shot maybe?

[roma197139]

TOO SLOW

[mccauley404]

Ed has balls

[bmw6line]

I wish my grampa was like this :P

[nighttrain334]

its possible the 2nd round went through the 1rst round hole!!

[Someloke8895]

One thing that makes me slightly concerned is the lack of protective clothing/gloves.

I guess thats from my experiences of English Civil War Artillery, but still.