Hypothetically speaking, could a gun like this work (assuming correct powder load) without blowing up in your face? The barrel is a literal steel pipe, secured on the stock with screws and the lighter one of those long table lighters
shitty makeshift musket
yeah
Again, hypotheticaly speaking, what kinds of loads would a galvanized or copper pipe be able to resist without exploding? Would something like a 100 grain (about 7 grams) of english war load (75% KNO3, 15% C, 10% S) work?
Powder, especially serpentine (not grained BP), is sensitive to density, the best way is simply test to failure and reduce the charge by half, for example.
If you don't trust the barrel then just add a second pipe as safety, the rupture of the barrel will limit the pressure and the safety pipe will redirect the gases/splinters.
Adding a seond safety pipe shortet than the barrel i something that i didnt think about and pretty smart. Would there be a problem if there was potentialy a bit of space between the two?
Less strength, more space for expansion of the first pipe.
if you think of the part where the powder is ignited as the "chamber" in a normal cartridge-fed firearm, which in a muzzle-loader would be considered the "breech", then thickening/strengthening it is and was normal practice after all, so using a second pipe there makes perfect sense.
I completely understand that but I replied to the other anon asking if there would be a problem if there was a space between the "chamber pipe" and a "reinforcement pipe" which I see as pointless to have if it doesn't fit tightly as the first pipe has a space to expand in case of high pressure that it cannot whitstand.
depends on what your intent is I suppose, if you just want a secondary safely layer, a little or a lot of space makes no difference, the second pipe would be acting as a shield/deflector to redirect anything. If you want to really strengthen it, then a closely fitting pipe that's epoxied or soldered in place will actually add strength.
Fair enough. I'd personally go with more robust construction, therefore tight fit. It's still moronic idea though because unless you really know what you are doing it is still dangerous to fire such things.
Hey, never claimed it to be a smart idea, it is a fun one though
What caliber are we talking about? Why would you use copper and not steel pipe?
>Caliber
whatever size pipe you can find when making this "mastepiece"
>Why copper
availability, price
Stainless steel seamless pipe is your best bet. Can withstand high pressures, will not rust and these are available in different sizes/calibers and they even have special one with extra thick walls. If you really want to make this shit, better safe than sorry.
Test it with a proof load which was generally a load 4 times stronger if it blows up go lower
Get at least 3 that are the same in every way, the first one you start low and keep upping the amount of powder until the thing breaks, test and record penetration at the same time with wood planks.
Now that you have a somewhat good idea of the max load it can take(doesn't account for wear from previous loads) decide on a powder amount below the max amount that has enough penetration for you liking, with this powder amount you set up the 2nd barrel and shoot this load until it breaks, giving you a rough estimate of how many shots you can get out of a single barrel, keep in mind that this can still wary to a huge degree depending on quality control etc in the pipe manufacturer.
Then you have your third barrel to enjoy, but tbh you should probably run through several barrels to fine tune things for safety.
READ
Good old tm 31-210. Have partially read it (the pwder recipe with booze and the shot shell trip wire and floor traps) however part of the fun of this thing is designing it myself. Aes such, i want to limit copying other makeshift stuff (i thnk the IEM has instructions on those too) to a minimum
wherein OP reinvents the serpentine
Anon, guns are medieval technology, you should be able to figure this out.
OP here
Yes im aware. This is essentialy a handgonne from 1500 but potentially shittier. I just wantied to post so i can get the thoughts of other people who like guns and maybe improve the "design", like with the "safety pipe"
Fire it remotely if you don't want to re-enact the Kentucky Ballistics moronation.
OP here
I mean IF i ever decide to make it then yes remote firing (or in this case lighting the fuse and running) is a given. Also, to give fair with Mr. Ballistics, he couldnt have predidcted that the rifle was going to quite literally blow up in his face
About 20 years ago my brother and I were fricking around with black powder and we found a dried up sunflower stock in our yard. Long story short- we made a crude barrel out of it, filled with some BP, found an appropriately sized rock as the bullet, and it fired! It launched that rock around 50-100 feet away, and it didn't blow up. I think we fired it 2 more times before it was toast. Somewhere I still have a photo of me shooting it. If organic material- a sunflower stock, can make a barrel without exploding, I'm sure you can safely figure out a simple steel barrel.
Skip the rope, just lightly pack the hole with powder and use a storm lighter directly on it, don't use a steel ball, you want softer metals that will deform instead of bouncing.
Instead of a solid ball go for birdshot or buckshot sized(in comparison to your barrel cal), will lower chamber pressure and lessen the chance of it bursting.