The folks at Western Powders have a bowling ball mortar. Their property is north of Miles City, Montana, with a lot of open space, including a long shooting range. It's also across a highway from the local airport.
The first time they fired it I was there. They shot it on their long range and tilted the mortar fairly high, assuming the bowling ball would make a high arc and go maybe 75-100 yards. Instead it went do high it disappeared in the bright blue sky, and people were scurrying for cover. They eventually found the ball buried in the hard Montana sod, more than 200 yards away. After that they looked around carefully for low-flying aircraft before touching it off.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
