YES! I got to be part of the gun crew on the USS Constellation. Pull the gun back, Cliff (in the authentic period uniform) loaded the charge, then run it out.
A half pound of black powder later you get this:
That’s a Parrott Rifle by the way. Normal powder charge when firing a real ball is about two pounds. That would make this the naval version of the 3.67 inch model. It fired a 19 lb. shell. Range was about 2.5 miles.
I have many more cool pictures of the Constellation and Fort McHenry. Later.
