Posted on 05/02/2008 8:39:16 PM PDT by fishhound
Stuff the potato down the neck with a broom handle, add a little starter spray to the back chamber (2-1/2" ABS), quickly screw the voss plug in, and hit the sparker. It was a good way to get rid of potatoes that were getting too soft to cook.
I believe I know why AndrewB said what he did, but I will have to look it up to be sure.
A bullet is a projectile that is fired from a “rifled” barrel. Since the projectile must be malleable it precludes the use of iron.
Now I’m off to see if I got this one correct.
Yes, I think some other posters got it right. This was a shell, not a cannon ball. Any Civil War experts out there? is the Civil War the first one to use shells?
I can’t recollect but I think I saw a documentary where the French Navy was developing shells just before the civil war.
I may be wrong.
Ok, from reading a couple online definitions of “bullet” it seems that it is possible to shoot one from a non-rifled barrel as long as it is round.
So I guess it is more likely that steel bullets were never used what with the availability of lead and all.
"In addition to solid spheres of stone, lead, or cast iron, bombs or shells could also be fired from mortars, and later became quite popular, especially as an antipersonnel weapon. They were not usually fired from cannon until later. A bomb was a hollow sphere of cast iron with a port into which a fuze could be hammered."
"Shells are said to have been used at the sieges of Naples in 1495 and of Wachtendorf in 1588. Henry VIII is reputed to have had mortars and bombs made by foreigners in 1544, and by 1634 they were in common use by the Dutch and Spanish. Of course, bombs could be as effectively thrown by catapults as by cannon. Incendiary bombs had been known since antiquity." From this site on cannons
Shells do.
Sounds like you are arguing the semantics of "form factor"
Some Civil War cannoballs were hollow and contained an explosive charge.
I once watched (from a distance) a group of excited young men fire a potato into the air-straight up.
The Titan Tuber ascended at tremendous speed to a tremendous height-straight up.
The men hooted and hollered with joy as the potato shrank from view and the starchy projectile flew away -straight up.
Then, there was a moment of silence, as the young men pondered a long forgotten science lesson, the one about gravity. When they realized that their ballistic produce had not only failed to achieve orbit, but was descending at a terrifying rate of speed-STRAIGHT DOWN!
They scattered like startled chickens just in time to avoid injury as Mr. Potato Bomb arrived at its exact point of departure and exploded into a million pieces on the asphalt.
It was quite entertaining.
If it were a cloth or fiber fuse, it’s amazing that the powder inside was still dry after all these years. Maybe it was set for 140 year airburst? Yankee detector? Rebel proximity fuze? Trailerbuster?
>>Some Civil War cannoballs were hollow and contained an explosive charge.
And were called “shells”.
Yet another ‘endless war’ in need of stopping.
Do you have a minute to weigh in on the question in #4?
My answer is in #21 and #24.
Thanks.
Looks like this collector was working on a dud that decided that it was time.
It depends on whether the projectile is a cannon ball or a shell. Spherical balls and shells were fired interchangeably from smooth bore cannons. The reporter misnamed this particular projectile; it was a shell.
If you want to see a really good demonstration of the original firing procedure you described get a copy of the PBS series, “By the Sword Divided,” which covers the travails and adventures of an English family during the English Civil War of the seventeenth century. The Roundheads besiege a Cavalier estate and take it by: 1) firing a mortar at it using the double light procedure and 2) blowing the gate off with a petard. I’ve never seen a better demonstration of both procedures and weapons.
Have you tried a muzzle loading shotgun? I have one and it is a hoot have took some rabbits and a wild turkey with it.
Pull the trigger and Wait for the smoke to clear to see if you got it.
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