10-15-2018, 12:03 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
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However, having the data in tons of force against the tackle may be worth using overall. As one person asked me privately in another conversation - just what is the damage that can be inflicted by a cannon's carriage in recoil if the gunners don't get out of the way (such as a cannon hang-firing or someone being jostled by the crew next to them into the path of the cannon etc. Per Wikipedia (how accurate this is I can't say!) 1 single cwt (long) is equal to 50.802345 kg. A qtr is 1/4 that. So 38.25 x 50.802345 kg = 1943.18969625 kg. Hope that helps clarify things a little. |
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10-15-2018, 12:05 PM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Quote:
Addenda: When I changed the value from 10 tons to 10 long tons in the conversion application, it gave the poundal as being: 73490.813648294 second^2 Since the charge weight for the gunpowder is 1/3rd that of the ball weight, we're looking at 6 lbs of powder being converted to gas. Should I be using a weight of 24 lbs (the weight of the charge plus the ball)? I don't know how to estimate the weight of the wadding but it can't be all too big of a change over the 24 lbs combined weight of powder and shot. Last edited by hal; 10-15-2018 at 12:09 PM. Reason: Addenda: |
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10-15-2018, 12:30 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Quote:
http://www.shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php
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A generous and sadistic GM, Brandon Cope GURPS 3e stuff: http://copeab.tripod.com |
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10-15-2018, 04:34 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Again, if you want velocity, you need to back it out of the ballistic ranges, not derive it from the force.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
10-16-2018, 03:45 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Heavy ropes attaching them to the hull, I think. Later mountings have the carriage sliding up a sloped ramp to soak the recoil, but that's age of steam era.
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10-16-2018, 03:54 AM | #16 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
That sounds right. Been several years since I saw a pirate movie ;)
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A generous and sadistic GM, Brandon Cope GURPS 3e stuff: http://copeab.tripod.com |
10-16-2018, 05:30 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Hal, are you sure you can't find the muzzle velocity somewhere? I would think that the Philip j. Haythornthwaite or Bert S. Hall kind of book listed them for Napoleonic cannon and carronades.
In worst case you can estimate it using period tablea for point-blank range and high-school physics. There are such books scanned from Elizabth's day so I am sure you can find them for George III.
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
10-16-2018, 05:53 AM | #18 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
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To be unhelpful, in terms of gun performance, I also recall hearing that the performance of guns changed as they warmed up ... whether that was due to the bore reducing (from fouling and thermal expansion) or what I don't know. Quote:
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10-16-2018, 07:57 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
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What books I do have - I try to scour them for any data possible. More often than not, the books I Have purchased with high hopes didn't have what I needed. Thing is - the amount of energy contained within a given amount of gunpowder should be easily known, as the formula for a given ratio/mixture should be known SOMEWHERE. If you know the charge weight tends to be 1/3rd to 1/4 the weight of the shot, it should be possible to estimate its velocity (which is what it appears that one website that Copeab referenced). I do appreciate everyone weighing in with what they have. And to tell you all the truth? One person (and he knows who he is) put me back on an old love of mine to the extent that I'm a busy BUSY beaver tracking information down. Getting stats on Napoleonic era ships isn't too difficult to find. Length, beam, draft, armaments, top speed etc - are easily found. Where I'm running into some minor gaps are the ships from the Age of Piracy - say, mid 1600's on up. I can get tonnage easily enough, and getting some sort of armaments list seems to be somewhat possible. Getting drafts for those ships and such is proving to be a wee bit challenging. What I hope to be able to do is get a ship's tonnage, its length, its beam, as well as perhaps top speed, draft, crew size etc. It would make for a nice database as a GM to be able to work off of regardless of whether the campaign scenario entails the 1650's, the 1670's, 1725, 1776, or 1794 - let alone 1812. :) Much of the details that I seek could be used with say, GURPS SWASHBUCKLERS or perhaps GURPS AGE OF NELSON. I picked up a table top miniatures game for Napoleonic land warfare (useful for GURPS MASS COMBAT), and it might be nice to be able to portray life in the Era of Nelson - especially for a GURPS TIME TRAVEL campaign or what have you. |
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10-16-2018, 10:02 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Black powder Cannon Ballistics in the Age of Sail
Quote:
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