Winchester Repeating Arms Co. model 98 signal Cannon

[wilhenri]

One of my passions is collecting cannon and this is the pride of my collection. These are still made but not by Winchester this is an original and dating to somewhere around  1901 . I have arrived at this date because on the barrel is stamped C S Rosson Co Norwich. This is where it gets interesting for me. C S Rosson were a Birmingham company who took on premises in Norwich Norfolk England. This company was eventually taken over by Gallyons of Norwich and Cambridge in 1965 and their records show two of these cannon sold in 1901 and 1902..Its basically a 10 bore breech loading black powder signal cannon often used for starting sailing races. I had no idea when I purchased this beast off the internet of its local connections to me and the fact I used to buy my sporting guns from Gallyons as I worked just a few doors away from their shop makes it all the more special.
Only real problem is sourcing 10 bore  blank black powder cartridges and when found they are usually about £50 a box of 25. However as always the USA to the rescue and a company called GaugeMate make an adaptor into which you can put a 12 gauge black powder blank so it fits the 10 gauge Cannon thats the silver looking cartridge shape . Lots of youtube stuff showing these in action lots of smoke with the accompanying bang.

[Rauville]

That was a great find. I always remember the old hardware store from the little town that I grew up in. They had the fancy chromed model cannon sitting in their front window display for decades. I think the price was over $100 even back in the 1950's.

[mart]

Although cannons are not my thing,, I much prefer my shotgun,, I have to say that's a nice one !! Don`t think I would fire it off much at that price !!

[wilhenri]

There are ways round it reloading the spent cases is perfectly fine. The percussion caps are available without licence and fireworks use black powder.