We got that barrel from Hern Iron Works in Idaho -
https://hernironworks.com/cannons-and-mortars/. We had it shipped Coutts, Montana, on the border. It was an interesting trip to pick it up ... drove into the US and then back a few blocks to re-enter Canada, once we had it loaded. (Was going to say "loaded and secured" but the crate was strapped to the pallet it was on, and gravity alone was more than sufficient to secure the pallet in place on the rubber box liner!)
However, our crossing back into Canada was truly "priceless" ...
"How long have you been in the United States?"
"About an hour and a half ..."
"Do you have anything to declare?"
"Just a cannon barrel."
"Um ... er ... please pull around there, park and come inside ..."We then got assigned to a middle-aged female agent who was convinced this couldn't possibly be legal. We assured her that the barrel was really nothing more than a big, heavy lawn ornament in the condition it was in (... i.e. touch hole not yet drilled ...) and that even once it was rendered fully functional it would be classed as a signalling device, and would be completely legal. She talked to just about everyone else in the facility (quite a few, this being a large, 24-hour border crossing), was on the computer for the longest time, phoned her superiors in Ottawa and also the Canadian Firearms Centre administered nationally by the RCMP (headquarters in Miramichi, New Brunswick) and
finally came and summoned us back to the counter (we had been sitting down for most of this time) and, with a rather pinched look on her face, asked: "How much did it cost?" ... so she could do the paperwork for collecting the Federal Goods and Services Tax of 5% - there were no import duties, of course, because it was produced in North America ...
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