Thread: Hotchkiss Cannon Replica

I have a fascination with early cannons, especially breech loading. Recently finished this replica of a Hotchkiss M1875 Mountain Gun. Screw breech instead of a sliding breech like the original. These were the first cartridge cannon adopted by the U.S. military.

Oh the fun if we could use them... I imagine goats up on a bluff would be interesting,to say the least.

Looks like 12ga High brass cases. What does it shoot?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Looks like 12ga High brass cases. What does it shoot?

This one is chambered in .44 mag, I have run reduced loads in it. An earlier one I made is in 410g.

I hope to start making them bigger, and eventually a full size 40mm one. Yup, goats will definitely be on the pointy end one day.....

.410 with five ball buckshot loaded hot....woohoo. no worries about over pressure bursting barrel lol.

Kero, The only 'problem' with your photo ( excellent work on the cannon, by the way) is that there's no sense of scale.
Do you have any other photo's of it beside something that we can use as a reference ?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Kero, The only 'problem' with your photo ( excellent work on the cannon, by the way) is that there's no sense of scale.
Do you have any other photo's of it beside something that we can use as a reference ?

Thank you! Here's a couple of pics that hopefully give an indication of size. They're only miniature size.

Thanks, the 50 cal ammo boxes in the middle photo sort it out for me. Overall length trail to muzzle , approx 1 metre?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Thanks, the 50 cal ammo boxes in the middle photo sort it out for me. Overall length trail to muzzle , approx 1 metre?

At a guess, I'd say it would be round 600mm. Barrel from memory was 350mm. Currently at local shop on display (Kelly Country, Brightwater - Nelson)
Mk1 version, less elaborate is slightly smaller and less to scale, pictured. https://youtube.com/shorts/52abQpaj7...NoENkaNTC-D2db

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Oh the fun if we could use them... I imagine goats up on a bluff would be interesting,to say the least.

There is no reason you cannot use em! they are A cat firearms!!

Originally Posted by Kero

I hope to start making them bigger, and eventually a full size 40mm one. Yup, goats will definitely be on the pointy end one day.....

thats a great number there.

Clearly your dishwasher has angered you considerably. That's basically an execution video.

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Clearly your dishwasher has angered you considerably. That's basically an execution video.

Technically dishwasher was dead first! Flood took it to a better place last week, along with the garden. Was a great wee target.

Yes , true. Awesome to shoot, even with a blank.
But like everything, now we need bigger. Next step is .50, something like .50-70 or similar.