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“half-inch-thick steel pipe”???
Who writes this sh!T? It was a 1/2” DIAMETER pipe and could have been something as thin a.060” material. Prolly was rigid pipe at .125 wall thickness. Essentially a pipe bomb.

My buddy and I made a tennis ball cannon once while at work and bored out of our minds (ski lift maintenance during season and just waiting around for something to break down!).
Used a 2 1/2” dia. x 36” rigid pipe set at 30 degrees (or something like that). Welded bottom end shut with 1/4” plate and drilled a 3/8” dia. hole 6” up from the bottom for ignition. Insert tennis ball and fill with acetylene gas. Light up with a stick welder rod.
Well this thing shot that tennis ball about 300 yards onto the top of a 5 story condo building. The flame out the front was about 10 feet long. A smoking ball went flying through the air and no one noticed.
Needless to say we packed that thing up so fast and both walked different directions away from the shop. No repercussions.
Whew!