From Bestiary 3 via Archives of Nethys: "Loading a cannonball into the cannon itself to fire it is a swift action; this allows the golem to take two shots per round with the cannon."
Two shots per round *every* round? Because RAW, this seems like two shots every *other* round to me:
Round 1, shoot, reload, shoot
Round 2: reload, shoot, convert move action down to a second swift to reload again so it's loaded for two shots next round.
But the phrasing also makes me think that the golem really is supposed to be allowed to fire off its entire 20-ball magazine in 1 minute by full-attacking. So...thoughts?
"Capacity: A firearm’s capacity is the number of shots it can hold at one time. When making a full-attack action, you may fire a firearm as many times in a round as you have attacks, up to this limit, unless you can reload the weapon as a swift or free action while making a full-attack action. "
it has a 10 round magazine, it can fire 2 per round until the magazine is empty, which it can then reload a fresh 10 round magazine as a swift action and continue firing.
I guess it happened like this: The author wanted the golem to fire twice a round and not more (despite BAB 20), so they picked the only remaining action type that was available once a round (to allow a second attack): Swift. They missed multiple rules issues with that and the editors just glossed over it, not expecting such mistakes.
IMO the reload should be a free action, while the golem should still be capped to two attacks (via specific rule of the "cannon" ability). Then you get a damage output (56 in average) that is at the lower end for CR 15 (70 is considered high, 52 low). The AB (average 23.5) is roughly the high value for CR 15 (24), but I'd consider such accuracy a given for a martial creature's main attack. The cannons do impressive crits (x4 19-20) and the golem can be at an advantage if it operates from great distance, so altogether two cannon attacks each round are totally reasonable for CR 15.
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Source Bestiary 3 pg. 135
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Melee 2 slams +29 (2d10+10)
Ranged cannon +26/+21 (6d6+7/19–20/×4)
...
Cannon (Ex) The golem’s cannon has a range increment of 100 feet and deals 6d6 points of bludgeoning and piercing damage on a hit with a ×4 critical modifier. The cannon’s magazine can hold up to 20 cannonballs at a time—reloading a single cannonball into this magazine is a standard action for the golem, while loading a cannonball into the cannon itself to fire it is a swift action; this allows the golem to take two shots per round with the cannon.
The Cannon golem rules set the number of attacks it makes when it makes a full attack, regardless of its BAB.
Recharging 1 shot in the magazine requires a Standard action, so it can't make an attack while recharging.
Loading a cannonball in the gun breech is a Swift action, so it can breech load the gun once every round. Combined with the magazine this will allow it to fire 2 shots/round for 20 turns.
After exhausting the magazine it will be limited to 1 attack every round. That is, if it has shots at hand, as apparently it doesn't produce them.