About Us

FIRE & IRON

1420 McKee Dr. Placerville,Ca. 95667 P: (530) 621-0586 F: (530) 621-0586 W: www.fireiron.net E: info@fireiron.net

The idea of using a golf ball as ammunition for a cannon came after attending the Jed Smith Rendezvous in Oregon over ten years ago. They sponsored a cannon shoot that had a variety of cannons including a bowling ball mortar.

The bowling ball launcher was the hit of the shoot. It would set off car alarms every time it went off. If you did not look up into the sky and focus off into the distance, you would never be able to follow the 16 lb ball from the ground up and out of sight! All the other cannons at the shoot had to use some rather expensive balls made out of lead or cast iron. Aluminum was not allowed because of ricochets. I went home and built a cannon that used a golf ball for ammo. First of all, this size cannon could easily fit into the trunk of a car and I could buy balls really cheap at any sporting goods store. You can shoot this cannon without a projectile with Black Powder alone and it makes just as much noise. That cannon was crude by today's standards because the original carriage was carved out of a piece of oak wood from the wood pile with a chainsaw. The barrel has survived all these years of abuse because it was machined from solid steel The very first bowling ball mortar I saw inspired the mortars of this series. It was made out of an Argon bottle and rather crude because it had just 1/4 inch steel welded on the outside of it to make it look like it had a huge thick barrel. The carriage was made out of 3/4 inch plywood and bolted onto an angle iron frame. The heart and strength of the mortar was in the Argon bottle and it seems to have stood the test of time. We have seen many other bowling ball mortars of this similar design over the years. The baseball and softball mortars that we make still focus on the idea of cheap ammo. They are still easy for one person to lift and fit into the trunk of a car and doesn't use much black powder to make them work.

Do not be fooled by the SPORTING nature of this ammunition!! Any of these cannons or mortars will kill any person who stands in front of it when it goes off!

Any cannon or mortar that you buy from us will not be capable of firing and are for display only. You must take the responsibility and the liability into your own hands to modify it to do so.