12 Pounder Whitworth Rifle

[Hawkeye2]

I had an enjoyable day serving on the gun crew for a Whitworth 12 pounder rifle. The gun is a full scale replica scratch built by its owner and is the only firing Whitworth 12 pounder in the world. The projectile is a 5 pound machined aluminum bolt which cost $50 each and are identical in size and configuration to the original iron 12 pound bolt and it's propelled by 5 ounces of black powder as opposed to 1.75 lbs for the original. The tube was rifled with a hydraulic machine designed and built by the owner and it took 7,300 passes to go from a round bore to the hex bore.

[Bronco]

KEWL

Got a picture of the aluminum bolt ????

[claybob86]

Nice!!! Looks like a day well spent.

How far does it shoot? How accurate?

[Hawkeye2]

I didn't take any and they are or were all buried in the backstop. They can be reused if you can find them. Here is a photo of an original, the aluminum ones are identical.

[Hawkeye2]

They are shot at 200 yards for North-South Skirmish Association rifled gun competition hence the small powder charge. The gun is capable of duplicating the performance of the original with a maximum range of 5.7 miles using 1.75 pounds of powder but that's hard on the carriage which in itself is incredibly expensive.

[piller]

Looks like a bunch of fun.

[Pitchy]

Awesome, never heard of a projectile shaped like that or bore.

[6pt-sika]

I was at Winchester VA a few years back for a North South event . Some of those guys were pretty darned Accurate with their cannon .

[Rusty]

Thank you for the information. I've never heard of a Whitworth cannon. I knew there was a rifle that had the same designed bullet. I knew a guy that had one of the replica rifles a few years ago. They describe it as a mechanically fitted bullet. It was great technology for it's time.
I've always been fascinated by field artillery ever since I found out I had a great, great uncle that served on the MARYLAND CONFEDERATE 2ND LIGHT ARTILLERY, also know as the Baltimore Battery.

[Paladin]

First one of these I have seen was at Hamid Karzai Palace in Kabul.

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[Sixgun]

Man! What a piece of machinery......you know what they say, "the only difference between men and boys are the price of their toys."

The guy built it himself! . Makes me feel small as I consider myself a mechanical genius by being able to take apart an antique Winchester and get it back together with only a extra part or two. ----6

[jnyork]

So, this guy has a homemade cannon that he built himself, likely using plans he got off the internet! Oh, the horror of it all.

[Bill in Oregon]

Sir Joseph was a genius. I was fortunate to buy a Parker Hale Whitworth rifle from the late Val Forgett while Navy Arms still had a few. Wish I still had it.
His cannon is just amazing.