Civil War Cannon Firing, 120th National Artillery Matches

Video taken at the 120th National Cannon Match at Fort Shenandoah near Winchester, Virginia on October 3rd, 2009. Includes video of Rifles, Smoothbores, and Howitzers firing for score at bulls-eyes and silhouettes. All cannons fire at 200 yards in this competition except the Howitzers that fire at targets 100 yards distant.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• cannon
• artillery
• firing
• civil war
• n-ssa
• shooting

[supaflawzie69]

this is hillariiouss

[civilwartalk]

@percyc1863 Many team opt not to use friction primers, many, including those on my team, believe that yanking on a finely sighted cannon can cause misses. When you are competing against teams that routinely get perfect scores, you can't afford fliers in the 4-ring. Second, it's not a reenactment, it's a live-fire marksmanship competition and much of what you see has been altered for safety reasons. I will agree that a measure of improvement in authenticity would not be a bad thing.

[supaflawzie69]

this is hillariiouss

[civilwartalk]

@percyc1863 Many team opt not to use friction primers, many, including those on my team, believe that yanking on a finely sighted cannon can cause misses. When you are competing against teams that routinely get perfect scores, you can't afford fliers in the 4-ring. Second, it's not a reenactment, it's a live-fire marksmanship competition and much of what you see has been altered for safety reasons. I will agree that a measure of improvement in authenticity would not be a bad thing.

[percyc1863]

What,NSSA doesnt use friction primers ? Lovely guns, but the uniforms and firing practices still have the look of the 1960's. Are there no authentics into the target shooting ?

[tacoman375]

@heisenfeis i was at the antietam battlefield and the tour guide said that at one point cannons were firing directly down rows of men from the side(i do not recall whose cannons these were) and that they would take out 100men at a time. gruesome indeed

[heisenfeis]

this is what i call big guns. When seeing the ball fall into the target at 2:42 and think of maybe 4-5 men in row standing there instead is just sick.

[civilwartalk]

@ljotur1 It's the 1812 Overture, best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire and ringing chimes. Although there is no historical connection, it's considered to be a patriotic song in the United States.

[ljotur1]

why here sounds russian national patriotics melodies (since 0:53) and part of Russian zarists anthem???

[civilwartalk]

Yes, mortars compete in their own event. I will post a video of the mortars soon!