Should I use Cframe or AnimationController?

I want to make an animation that fires a cannon. I'm not familiar with CFraming, but I don't know how to load an animation onto a non-character either. I'm familiar with Animation Editor and rigging though.

About the cannon; --The cannon is based off a ww2 cannon, so the chute would move back slowly then "jump" forward. --It's at an angle. --The cannon is currently made up of ~150 parts but I am unioning it down to 10 or so Unions/Parts.