Commodore Swab

Well it seems you will need to wait longer to see what it will look like, the Viceroy went down to Mexico and we were unable to pour my barrels before he left so it will be delayed at least a month or two.

They are still in the trial stage, I haven't finished my first one yet or made a master pattern. A lot more work goes into a blunderbuss than a mortar considering its a lost wax and you need the lock and all the rest of the bits and pieces.

Ive been doing a fair bit of conversing with the lads at Loyalist and once I sell a piece or two and have some funds I may be expanding and possilby selling to them. I should be going to the foundry with the Viceroy and pouring out several barrels tomorrow. CS

All of the guns the Viceroy builds are built to last from one generation to the next. The problems you mentioned are not prevelant in many of the smaller guns since they are cast the same as some of the newer originals solid then bored out. As for the difference of metals if a touch hole is threaded in it would be replaceable and would isolate the the charge completly from the various metals. Of course the large guns "could" be cast as a solid bronze and then bored out but $$$$

Im working on a smaller doglock now. Im still waiting for the lock to arrive (any day now) and should be pouring the bronze barrel (blunderbuss) within the week. When I get some of these done I will post pictures. Have you found any pictures or descriptions of what you are looking for?

The particular guns that are mentioned being hollow cast in bronze with the steel liners are the ones I will be refering to. The liner is proofed prior to the gun being built so the porosity or weakness of the casting around the bore becomes irrelevant. The touch hole is a concern since it would be drilled thru bronze aluminum and steel which is a poor combination to say the least. As an alternative it is possible to tap the steel inside and have a threaded touch hole and have a piece threaded into the sleve that would be able to be replaced the same as a musket or pistol. As for longevity the guns that we build are made to last from one generation to the next and on down the line.

I will have to side with Darwin, we have protected far too many stupid people from their own mistakes

well is the bottom plastic or glass?

From first look they are bronze spikes not iron so that places it as a newer wreck and not gaop

I would just pick up some JB Weld and coat the entire bottom. If you are good you can even get close to matching the color. If you put it on thick you can even sand it down so its beautifully smooth and nobody will even know there is a glass bottom in it.

Nope not Spanish, Portuguese with my Thai woman (how I was given her is another story in itself). We are well armed and willing to share amongst our crew whether it be cannons or small arms. The cooking will be primarily Thai along with the possibility of a show. After PiP the plan is a sail and raid to Ft Jefferson as the pirates we are with camping there.

If you are bringing an RV there is a large grass lot across from ourhouse whereIm sure you could park for a few nights. And I know we are on your way, I don't know how else you could get to KW without driving by our house.

I can understand the prices as I do much the same without the vaccum. The 4 blunderbuss barrels I am working on dipping now I had to actually melt and recover the wax then shape turning on a lathe (turning a soft piece of wax on a lathe cutting byhand is not as easy as it sounds) and mount them to be ceramic coated. The coating usually takes about a week and there will easilly be another week of work finishing the barrel and building the stock with the lock and everything else. I really do need to start doing some smaller casting the same as you do so I can make other parts.

Goex is used here on everything from my little Mortars to the much bigger cannons the Viceroy has. I use 1 oz in my 22 inch with a 1 inch bore as a blank charge and that is enough to make a very nice bang to show off. I can't imangine using twice the powder.

Anyone who wants to crash a night or two at our house is more than welcome. It could make for a nice place to go snorkeling as well if you want considering that we are on a canal in Key Largo.

SV Kokomo is mine, she is a 1970 C&C Corvette 31 feet on deck and will be logging many miles once she is done

I wasnt so much thinking about a full seperat crew more of a crew within a crew. My particular character is Portuguese (much closer to Spanish than English) and my wife will be from the Orient. Sort of a crew for those who might be interested in doing something other than the standard yet excellent English pirate. I would love this crew to be able to have at least 1 boat that we could run about in (thinking of the thread of a fleet of skiffs) during battles. Anyways just an idea rambling around in my head

I am a member of the Mercury crew and hope to add another crew along a similar time frame that would be open to people to reduce the numbers of the mercury crew and work with them. The time frame would be 1715 and the hurricane that sent many spanish ships to their graves. I would like to recreate this as a shipwrecked survivor camp but it would take a few people and if we got absorbed into the mercury camp that would be fine

I think we definatly need to get together once i start producing thes blunderbuses. right now I only have 4 prototypes, 1 full size i shrot buss 1 pistol, and one duckbill pistol. but these are prototypes

What pray tell are Sea Boots? Other than the rubber boots worn by modern fishermen. "Sea boots" as translated in this spanish drawing are a much smaller boot (I think when compared to bucket boots) coming up below the knee as can be seen on this drawing (circa 1725)

If a flag is made would it cost much more to have several made so that some of us might be able to have our own?

Heres one of the ones I use

Money is a means to an end, not the end.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"