The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Tactical Rifle & Carbine => Topic started by: Big Frank on March 06, 2021, 01:01:26 AM
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My new toy should be here Monday. I got the X-Products X-FORE Can Cannon Launcher Package + M200 Blanks while it's on sale. I wouldn't have bought the Golf Ball Launcher with the Can Cannon, but it was only about 8 1/2 dollars more than buying a Can Cannon and bag of blanks. At least that's what I came up with on my calculator a few times when I triple checked it. Now it's almost a $30 difference. I think they lowered the price of the Can Cannon itself. If you have an old first generation Can Cannon, you can buy a Gen 2 Threaded Port that the golf ball launcher screws onto. With good G.I. blanks they say it can shoot a golf ball up to 500 yards, but I'll find something to use as a direct-fire target. :D I bought it mainly to launch cans anyway, but I have a handful of golf balls I found that I'll shoot. I think I'm a mile and a half from the nearest golf course, but every few years a golf ball just shows up on the street or in the yard. I don't know where they come from.
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Can Cannon Laser Engraved Artwork Sleeve Replacement, with artwork created and laser engraved by Octo Arms, Inc. If you want a custom can cannon, you can get one of these sleeves and the G2 threaded port to put on an upper, or replace the sleeve on a standard can cannon. The laser engraving wraps around 360 degrees so each figure blends into the other.
https://xproducts.com/laser-engraved-sleeve-for-can-cannon-ar15-soda-can-launcher/
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It's been a long time since I started this thread, but I figured this is the right place to post this. I already had the Firefield Impulse 1x22 Compact Red Dot Sight on the Windham Weaponry flattop upper on the Can Cannon. Then I got a Strike Industries T1 Riser Mount and stacked it on top, with the lower 1/3 co-witness spacer on top of that. The spacer should be on the bottom of the SI mount but it won't fit in the groove on top of the Firefield mount, and the SI mount will. Everything is built to an Aimpoint T-1 footprint, as are my Vortex SPARC II and SIG Romeo-MSR. The optic is a circle dot reticle in red and green with 5 brightness levels on the 12 position switch. With the high mount and the optic in the middle of the upper, I'll be able to angle the launcher upward and still see over the muzzle through the sight. Then maybe I can use the edge of the circle instead of the dot to aim long shots. I don't know what kind of arc a beer can makes when you lob one 100 yards, but it won't be as straight as a bullet. I plan on finding out this summer with some cheap Walmart soda or something like that. I have the golf ball launcher screwed in too, but only have about 7 golf balls IIRC. If I don't find any crab apples or something else I can cram in there, I'll just unscrew it and start shooting cans. It also shoots potatoes but I haven't tried it myself. I saw someone on YouTube take potatoes a little to big and pound them them in with their hand, cutting them into bore diameter projectiles.
https://www.strikeindustries.com/si-t1-riser.html
https://firefield.com/products/firefield-impulse-1x22-compact-red-dot-sight?_pos=15&_sid=9b40252a3&_ss=r
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I'm going to play devil's advocate.
Take a Coke can and use a can opener to cut off the top. Fill with fireworks, cherry bombs, etc with SLOW FUSE. Put the can in the launcher, FIRE.
Would that work?
My thinking would be to return ANTIFA fire at riots. Place round behind enemy lines. ;^)
(Just my mind going crazy)
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I don't see why not. If it fit's, it's a projectile. And the tennis ball the kid shoots in the second video could be soaked in lighter fluid and set ablaze like a lot of people did with tin can tennis ball launchers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-hy0kzWNKI
SHORT https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XS2hUcBloWM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj_b5aNkxP0
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Many years ago a coworker and I made a tennis ball cannon out of exhaust tubing(we worked in a muffler shop) We used an Oxy/acetylene mix for the fuel and touched it off with a cutting torch. It sounded like a mortar going off when fired and we never did know where the ball landed.It was quickly stashed in the trunk of the other guys car before any police came by the area. I always wondered what happened to it afterwards.
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One time I heard about some guys setting off bag bombs. I never heard of a bag bomb before, but it's oxy-acetylene mix in a plastic bag. You torch it and it blows up, but don't use too big of a bag! One guy said he used a garbage bag and when it blew up, it put him through the garage wall, or halfway through it. :o For a long time I didn't know carbide lamps made acetylene gas by reaction of calcium carbide with water. I knew it made something from carbide and water, but didn't know it was acetylene, just like an oxy-acetylene torch.
One of my uncles in the U.P. used to work at "the carbide plant", wherever and whatever that was. I always assumed it was a Union Carbide plant somewhere. It turns out, in the 1950s, the hydroelectric plant at Alford Park in the Soo was owned by Union Carbide – Michigan Northern. Maybe he worked there. Construction began in 1898, and the opening date was in 1902. The building is 20 feet over 1/4 mile long. 122 years later, the Soo hydropower plant is one of the oldest large generating stations still operating in the United States. One of my cousins' husbands, my uncle's son-in-law used to work there under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers. His wife, my cousin was the Postmistress I talked about before who cross-country skied to work in the winter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Marys_Falls_Hydropower_Plant#
https://loc.gov/pictures/item/mi0085/
P.S. If you go to a campground in Canada and they ask if you want hydro, they aren't asking if want to hook up to a water connection, they're talking about electric. Weird.
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Big Frank, Yeah, we did that too, Was a guy that used to walk around the town talking to himself, The assistant manager didn't like him hanging around the shop because he would get into arguments with himself. So he took a tall kitchen garbage bag and filled it with a mix of Acyt/Oxy and tossed it by the side of the building hoping to scare him away, Threw a cigarette at it and hit it first time, Was a VERY LOUD boom and a fireball, The guy didn't even flinch, like he didn't even hear it,The town PD showed up in 2 minutes asking us what happened, Manager told him it was a backfire from a car we were working on.Never heard anymore about it after that.This all happened about 30 years ago, so I'm guessing the statute of limitations has run out. ;) ;D
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After I used camo Duck tape on my ARs, I did my can cannon a few weeks ago. The first 2 pics are of the Can Cannon mounted, with the X-Fore Golf Ball Launcher, and the barrel nut from my old free-float tube also in the pics. The second pair of pics are of the X-Fore Golf Ball Launcher for the Can Cannon mounted the way it's supposed to be, inside the can cannon, with the old barrel nut in the pics. The 3rd pair of pics is of the old barrel nut holding the Can Cannon Threaded Port on, and the X-Fore Golf Ball Launcher mounted, with the can cannon separate. That's less than half the weight in barrels.
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I my jurisdiction anything involving burning or detonation is viewed along the lines of discharging a firearm and can get you a ticket. (experience) So a Mentos explosion is okay but an acetylene one is not.
However, if it involves compressed air, then that's okay. So for my children's TV show, we did a number of "experiments" with The Professor involving high pressure. We did bend the rules and did the exploding paper bag with flour dust, but when asked said it was a science experiment. Also did the 55gal drum implosion trick as well.
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I saw a video of a rail-car implosion. SCIENCE! That would be awesome to see in person. The 55 gallon drum must have been too. Around here, making excessive noise is illegal (no fun aloud ;)) so shooting the can cannon is a vacation tine activity.
I still have some camo tape left and my CCU is setting here, so it will likely get some tape before long. Not the forend I don't think, but the receiver tube. Maybe a strip on top of the rail too. I already did the forearm of my VRF14 not-a-shotgun. I'll try to remember to post pics when I have it back together.
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For my children's TV show's The Professor segment we did implode one. The scream is genuine surprise by one of the cast, because it takes a while for the vacuum to build up.
I'll save you the full lenght, 5 minute setup portion, though co-starring with The Professor is Construction Charlie (me).
https://vimeo.com/1070385032?share=copy#t=0 (https://vimeo.com/1070385032?share=copy#t=0)
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Some years ago out of Lafayette, LA, a coiled tubing company had an incident with a liquid nitrogen transport tank. Liquid nitrogen is used to provide lift in old wells to clean them out, etc. Anyway it's pumped through a heater and then down the well through a big coil of tubing. Whilst unloading the transport the crane operator at the dock somehow dropped it in the water....which covered up the relief valve which vents nitrogen as the tank warms up. The relief valve is a very normal thing as the transports always vent some nitrogen...however in this particular instance water got into the piping and froze as a solid block of ice in the vent piping to atmosphere. About 2 AM the tank exploded and leveled a big industrial building..very violent and very fortunate no one was working that night as anyone within the fenced area would have been killed.
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:o Extremes of pressure and temperature are nothing to treat casually. Here's a video of a rail tanker imploding. I wonder how much vacuum it was pulling? The last 6 seconds of music is Sirius by The Alan Parsons Project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz95_VvTxZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkC_oi0ksuw
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:o Extremes of pressure and temperature are nothing to treat casually. Here's a video of a rail tanker imploding. I wonder how much vacuum it was pulling?
It takes very little vacuum to collapse a tank. Go to farm country and you will find a collapsed honey wagon in every town. VanDale and Balzer set their relief valves under 20". Replacement valves were typically built with a 15" limit. Our tank typically ran at 12", and I could lift 1,500 gallons eight feet in less than ten minutes. Unloading was done at five pounds or less.
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Wow!
To run a honey wagon business, you really have to know your s**t. ;D
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I already put my old Devil Dog Concepts Tactical Hard Charger side charger on the can cannon. Then I cut a space out of the bottom of an M16A4 type detachable carry handle to fit around it and mounted it one slot back from the normal position. After that I modified an M203 quadrant sight to fit. These work on M16 style rifles with a fixed carrying handle, but not with a flattop with a detachable handle. I ground the last 50 meters off the bottom of the elevation scale so it fits snugly on top of the Hard Charger. And I had to replace the front knob of the carry handle with a hex nut and flat washer, and cut the stud off with a hacksaw blade to mount the modified quadrant sight. I may flip the nut over, and file the stud down while the nut's off, but it's good enough for now. But now the elevation arm only goes to 250 meters on what's left of the 450 meter scale. When the sight is deployed and depressed for range, it gets in the way of the cocking handle on the hard charger. But there's still has a latch in the normal charging handle location, so the bolt can be pulled back from the rear. I'm out of golf balls, but one of my friend's sons has a few.I think I'l see if he wants to shoot them in his back yard when the weather warms up again. This is the same lower I use with my 16" and 20" uppers, and I put the 16" back on. I have an original style Hard Charger coming next week for the 20" AR I bought this side charger for.
For future reference, there wasn't room to get my SIG Romeo MSR on the T-Rex offset Aimpoint mount mounted on the receiver, and not the forend. Not with my Athlon Armor cantilever mount in front of the Tactical Hard Charger mounted near the rear (slot #3). I would have to take it off and move the scope mount back farther, and still not have room for the rear sight. Since I can only use a red dot or folding sights, I'm going with the red dot. So I'll put my 3" offset Vortex Sport Series cantilever on instead. I can't use the folding offset sights with it because it has to be mounted so far back, but there will be room for the T-Rex offset mount between it and the front-mounting (last slot) Original model Hard Charger with a Tactical handle I ordered. I'll post pics in the appropriate thread when I get er done.
Looking at the pics and seeing the hacked off stud and scarred up nut bothers me. I'll have to fix it eventually, but plan on going back to bed soon.
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I finally figured out how to add a sling to the Can Cannon, without duct taping a sling to it. I have an M16A2 Top Sling Adapter, made to carry the rifle "patrol style", horizontally, not in a low ready or high ready position. I ran the tail of the strap through the metal loop twice and pulled it tight. Then put 2 Strike Industries Bang Bands over the strap, then one in front of them. I pulled the strap back and put another Bang Band in front of the last one, then added a Samson QD socket to the front clamp. The Bang Bands did NOT want to stretch that far, but I wasn't taking no for an answer. I have the cable channel guides on all 4 Bang bands pointing straight up. They're ~1 band width from the muzzle, and with the strap behind the front one, the strap and QD socket should stay clear of the muzzle when it's slack.
https://www.strikeindustries.com/bangband.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DexJowYLSa4
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The old free float tube that was on my AR with the 20" barrel is just slightly larger inside than the outside diameter of the golf ball launcher. I tried sticking it on over the camo tape and it wouldn't fit, so I took the tape off and it was way too loose. So I put the tape on in strips and forced the 2 parts together. The free float tube was a little longer, but I have both tubes flush at the muzzle. I screwed in the modified barrel nut that originally belonged to the free float tube, with blue Loctite on it. Then I screwed a #8 screw into the sling stud hole of the free float tube, cut it off, filed and sanded it.
I plan on buying an extra nozzle and securing it with Loctite, too. Then, when I want to shoot golf balls, I can remove the can cannon tube and nozzle, and install the golf ball tube and nozzle as a single unit. I can grab the knurling of the former free float tube and screw it in, without needing a barrel nut, as seen in the second pic. The other way, I had to use an M16 barrel wrench on the barrel nut to secure the nozzle, then screw the tube on. This way it will all be 1 part instead of 3 separate pieces, and won't require any tools. The whole double tube and nut assembly is in the basement covered in flat black spray paint. I'll post pics of it on the launcher when I get it back together. Tomorrow?
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This looks much better than before, IMO. The X-Products X-Fore golf ball launcher without the Can Cannon. And without a separate barrel nut behind the tube. I never did like the way it looked with the X-Fore tube inside the Can Cannon. They have a X-Fore with a Delta Ring available, but to me it looks more Jerry-rigged than what I cobbled together. I turned the carry handle front nut that was previously torn up with a hacksaw over and touched it up. I decided to put a forward assist back on it, but instead of using the one I had in it before, I took the one off my 12.7" AR and put the EGW anodized aluminum AR Forward Assist Plug in its place. It may have taken an ounce off the weight of the gun, I don't know. When I cleaned the chamber yesterday, the solvent ate off some of the fresh paint from the day before. Instead of taking the tube off, I repainted it and painted the upper too, all at once.
The last pic shows a good comparison of the slab-side Colt without a fence around the mag release, and a "normal" AR. You can also see where the plug is in place of the "jam enhancer". I was already thinking about buying another nozzle, using Loctite on it and screwing it into the X-Fore semi-permanently, and using the other one on the Can Cannon. And I still have my original X-Products upper, so I could have the Can Cannon on one upper and the X-Fore on the other. I already have a couple of extra charging handles and would only have to swap BCGs between the 2 otherwise complete uppers. The X-Fore would be better off with an optic on it since it can shoot a golf ball 600 yards. But I think the carry handle and bang bands are good enough for the Can Cannon. The old free float tube is ~13" long, and the X-Fore is about the thickness of the barrel nut less than that. They couldn't have matched up any better if they were made to go together.
https://egwguns.com/ar-forward-assist-plug
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I was lying in bed last night when it occurred to me I might be able to tighten up my old X-Products upper if I dimpled the bottom of the lugs with a center punch. So I started working on it at midnight, AND IT WORKED! I put 3 dimples on each lug, but the first one in the center of each lug was a hair too deep on both of them. Then I put the 4 other dimples on the lugs. It fit my lower so tight I had to pound the pins in with a mallet, and use a punch to knock them back out. Then I spent maybe a half hour with a half-round Swiss-pattern (jeweler's) file, filing down the bumps in the bottom of both holes. I now have a hand-fitted upper, that I previously had no use for, because it was such a sloppy fit. You can see where the 6 dimples are, which I covered with a paint pen.
I chucked a piece of a bolt into a cordless drill, and stuck a used blank case on it. Then I used toothpaste with it to polish the chamber in the nozzle. The Armscor blanks still stick a little bit if I press them in as far as they'll go, but G.I. M200 blanks have a little wiggle room. I used blue Loctite to screw the nozzle into the X-Fore tube that's inside the aluminum free-float tube. Then I screwed the tube on really tight. I put a spare charging handle with an extended latch in, and when I get the other nozzle, I'll be putting it on the forged flattop upper. I just put a prototype 4th slot Hard Charger side cocking handle on the forged upper, to replace the 3rd slot tactical mount that was on it. The carry handle that I cut a space in the bottom of was mounted back 1 slot from where it's supposed to be. The back was hanging over just a little bit, and now the carry handle is mounted in the right place, up to the front of the rail.
I got a text from UPS at 6 am saying to expect my package from X-Products next Tuesday. After I get the new nozzle installed with the Can Cannon in this upper, I'll have one upper with the Can Cannon always mounted, and the other upper with the X-Fore always mounted. Now all I have to do is find my red-dot optic and Picatinny riser to put on it. Then when I switch uppers, all I have to do is swap out the bolt carrier group. I have an extra one so I don't have to take one out of my rifle uppers when I want to use the Can Cannon or X-Fore, and I'll use the same BCG for both of them. When I get these 2 uppers and attached launchers finished, I'll post pics of them.
Since I don't have the quadrant sight on the carry handle anymore, I didn't need the hex nut on it that I used to replace the front knob that was in the way. I decided to put the knob back on, but the threads don't go all the way to back of it. The back of the knobs are counter-bored and there wasn't enough left of the shaft on the carry handle to screw the knob onto. So I threaded a bolt to fit the knob and cut the head off, then chucked it in a drill. I ground the back of the knob off by spinning it perpendicular to the bench grinder until it was just about to the threaded part. It was enough to screw the knob on the previously shortened stud.
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I still can't find the red dot and 1/2" Picatinny riser it's on. I found the other riser, but not the one with the red dot. I took photoes today of the X-Fore launcher on the old X-Products upper without the red dot. Imagine it like it is, but with the sight and risers from the 2nd pic back on it. I plan on putting a Hard Charger side charging handle on it too. The Can Cannon will look about the same as the 3rd pic, but without the quadrant sight, and without the X-Fore tube in it. You can see in this pic how the carry handle was 1 slot back from where it' supposed to go on the uppper.
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I finally found my big, cheap, red dot optic and 2 Picatinny risers it's mounted on. It was on my VRF14 "not-a-shotty" firearm. I forgot I put it on there right after I put the flame-roasted VFG on, so I took it off and put it on the X-Products upper with X-Fore launcher. When I thought I found 1 of the 1/2" Picatinny risers, that was actually a 3rd one that used to be on my Carbine Conversion Unit before I got a 15.25" long Monorail, and 2 Mini Quad Rails for it. The charging handle was hitting the top of the Magpul ASAP QD - Ambidextrous Sling Attachment Point QD, so I ground it down and filed it flat. I took just a hair off the top of the lower receiver where the lower receiver extension screws in while filing the ASAP QD.
https://magpul.com/asap-qd-ambidextrous-sling-attachment-point.html?mp_global_color=118
Now all I need to put on it is a Hard Charger side charging handle. They work smoother than a rear charging handle. The charging handle with extended latch was binding up really bad until I realized I was pulling slightly upward as I pulled back on it. Once I made a conscious effort to pull down on the left side as I pulled the handle back, it worked okay, after the work I did on the top of the ASAP QD. But the Hard Chargers guide the handle straight back all the time, every time. I'll probably get an Original Hard Charger that mounts to the 13th rail slot at the front of the upper. With a Tactical handle on it to match my other 2 side charging handles. I'll have to move the red dot and risers back a couple of notches, but there's plenty of room on the upper. If anyone wants to buy a Hard Charger, I can get a commission if you use this link. I'll never buy another flattop upper and NOT put a Hard Charger on it. They make adjustable ones for billet uppers too, not just G.I. forged uppers.
https://devildogconcepts.com/?ref=BigFrank
I forgot to put rail covers on the upper before I took the pics but have since taken care of it. I put 1/3 of a black ERGO 18-SLOT LOW-PRO LADDER RAIL COVER on the back half of the upper to cover all 6 slots. Then I cut a piece 2 slots long to go on the front of the top riser. These are my favorite Pic rail covers so far, and a 3-pack is only $19.99. If there's anything else cheaper I don't know who makes it. They come in 15 different colors, but I've only bought black and OD green for my guns.
https://www.ergogrips.net/shop/ergo-18-slot-lowpro-ladder-rail-cover-3-pack/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Td3374SOQ8