Do we have any blackpowder cannon guys here?

[Diamondback]

A buddy over in the UK who's a former engineer and now hobbyist naval historian's been starting to build miniature naval cannon--just finished a carronade after almost 40 years, in fact. Anyway, do we have anybody here who'd know anything about this? Right now he's curious about 1740s-50s era gunlocks and prides himself on being able to explain the details about how things work at every step of the firing process, but needs some help with the primer quills in particular. Already checked Wikipedia and all it gives is a throwaway reference to "explosive compound."

Anybody out there have any references to suggest that might help him? @Andy54Hawken @tac

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[Forger]

Primer quills is a grass tube filled with black powder.
The locks can be seen at Dixie gun works on line.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

"Artillery Through The Ages"...by Albert Manucy is a handy book for all things "cannon".
Andy