Posted on 05/02/2008 8:39:16 PM PDT by fishhound
Cannonballs don’t explode.
Shells do.
I fired a matchlock once. Kinda fun. I have a custom built replica of an 1790s flintlock with a four foot barrel and with the stock, it comes out to over five feet in length.
Reading a period (~1875) sea story novel, there's a passage describing the powder crew on a US frigate. Nailess felt shoes, garb with no buttons, etc., and they'd march in to the copper lined magazine turn the powder kegs every so often to help keep the powder from separating.
But, this unfortunate occurrence makes the passage a description of busy work, or an exercise in safety handling the stuff in such. (Probably beat the grunt work on a wooden ship of the era)
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
Here is a list of the various ammunitions used in the war. The main
division is between shot (did not carry its own explosive charge) and
shell (carried an explosive charge).
For shot:
1. solid shot-- the standard cannon ball (or bullet shape in the in case
of a rifled gun)
2. canister-- smaller shot placed in a sheet iron cylinder. The
cylinder disintegrated when the gun was fired.
3. grape-- smaller shot layered between iron plates and held together by
a central bolt. Presumably the bolt broke when the gun fired allowing the
shot to scatter. Examples of grape shot can be seen in [2] pp. 76, 76,
and 191.
4. quilted grapeshot-- small shot covered in canvass and tied up with
rope which a gave it a quilted look. An example of quilted shot can be
seen in [2], p. 177.
5. chain shot-- two shot joined by a chain. Used to destroy rigging of
sailing ships.
6. bar shot-- two shot joined by a solid bar (like a dumbbell). Used to
destroy rigging to sailing ships.
7. red hot shot-- shot heated before firing. Used to start fires on
ships.
For shell:
1. standard shell-- hollow iron projectile filled with explosive
2. shrapnel shell-- hollow iron projectile filled with explosive and with
small solid shot which scattered upon explosion. The spherical version of
this was called "spherical case" or simply "case." The term "case" was
also used for the name of the class of rounds which scattered small shot,
thus canister, grape, and spherical case were all classified together as
"case shot." (confusing, isn't it?)
Shell was fitted with either a timed fuse (which ignited the charge
after some fixed delay) or a percussion fuse (which ignited the charge
upon impact).
Standard solid shot and standard shell were primarily for destruction
of materiel (viz. fortifications or ships). Canister, grape, quilted shot
and shrapnel were used against personnel. However, there were also
varieties of (non-shrapnel) shell designed for use against personnel (the
hollow was shaped so the shell would split into a relatively few large
pieces about the size of small shot).
[1] "Ammunition", in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed (1911).
[2] F.T. Miller, ed., "Photographic History of the Civil War," vol. 5,
"Forts and Artillery" (1957 edition).
[3] "Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War"
Nice.
They did that not to keep the powder from separating, but to keep it from bunching up in into a clogged lump (which would burn too slowly or not at all) in the humid, salty, air at sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhNTB_4DjDg
Deer taken on the first day of muzzleloading season Oct. 13 in Georgia with my .75 caliber matchlock musket. Shot taken at about 40 yards, ball went straight through it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ynEquVaAA4
Don’t know why he chucks his ram on this one.
Thank you. Very interesting.
I learned something today.
It depends on the metal used to form the “bullets” or “cannon balls”. Lead bullets - no. Cast iron cannon balls - definitely yes.
The fuse was a pewter disk with numbers that gave you the delay. Under the disk was a powder train going to the main charge, wether black powder or lead balls held in place by pine pitch. Sectioned some, and the black powder was still good after all these years.
Not sure about cannon but with mortars they tried it that way at first and had some terrifying results. Someone then thought to load the shell with the fuse facing in toward the lifting charge so the fuse would light on firing. It was soon noticed that method caused the shell to explode immediately as the shell left the muzzle! After a bit of experimentation it was observed that the mortar shell fuse would reliably light from the muzzle blast of the propelling charge if the shell was loaded with the fuse facing out the muzzle.
Regards,
GtG
LOL, that deer is the size of a dog! Is that normal in Georgia?
The ones I worked on did.
That’s a beauty.
That’s not me...I just cut and pasted the text from the description on the right.
I don’t know but I thought the deer was small as well.
.75 cal has to be a big hole in that thing.
The ball was filled with black powder, a fuse was in the ball and was usually lit when the cannon fired(by the firing of the cannon). Some mortars had their fuse lit before the round was fired. They were more or less timed to go off at the range they were being fired at, I believe they were adjustable for time. This is a rough explanation and more detailed info can be obtained by your friendly search engine.
Thank you very much for posting that. Those were fun to watch.
Yes, very small compared to the ones I hunt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.