Scourge of War Boards

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Ephrum wrote:

In regards to canister damaging rifled barrels, no, not in an official report. I read it sometime ago in the MMG Forum. It seems to make sense though. I owned a 12.gauge shotgun that had a 24inch rifled barrel, made specifically for slugs. The Gunsmith told me not to use Birdshot or Buckshot, because it would damage the rifling.

I brought it up to see if anyone else has read it. I was kind of hoping Kerfluoxed might have some insight on the subject. His "Manuals" seem to address and clarify so many questions.

To once again quote the manual:

"Cannister consists of a tin cylinder attached to a wood and filled with cast-iron shot." Each cannister varies in numbers of "shot" depending on the type of gun. Standard howitzers of the period contained 48 shot in each round. Each round had the shot packed in sawdust within the tin cylinder. The shot did not contact the bore; rather, it expanded and exited the cylinder after the round left the gun tube. Hence, no more barrel wear than other types of shot.

As to the shotgun, the pellets exit the shell case upon firing and "freely" move down the barrel. The shell case remains in the breech until it is ejected.

J

Those manual are great Kerfluoxed!
And I appreciate your taking the time to write all of that out, and clarifying my shotgun analogy! B)

Glad to be of help, E!

J

Maybe they should make cannister shotgun shells!

BOSTON wrote:

Maybe they should make cannister shotgun shells!

Actually most shotgun shells with pellets (shot) have a shotcup surrounding them which protects the bore. Only after leaving the barrel will the shotcup spread apart and release the pellets which allows the pellets to spread.

Shirkon wrote:

BOSTON wrote:

Maybe they should make cannister shotgun shells!

Actually most shotgun shells with pellets (shot) have a shotcup surrounding them which protects the bore. Only after leaving the barrel will the shotcup spread apart and release the pellets which allows the pellets to spread.

It has been a few decades since I last re-loaded shotgun shells. At that time, there was a "wad" located between the powder and the shot. When fired, the wad pushed the shot down the barrel. Perhaps all of that has changed these days.

J

Shirkon wrote:

BOSTON wrote:

Maybe they should make cannister shotgun shells!

Actually most shotgun shells with pellets (shot) have a shotcup surrounding them which protects the bore. Only after leaving the barrel will the shotcup spread apart and release the pellets which allows the pellets to spread.

Does it matter if is a shotgun rifled barrel or not when using pellets? Been a long time since I used a shotgun, it was an old 1800s Ithica dbl-barrel smoothbore, really didn't trust it too much.

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Shirkon wrote:

BOSTON wrote:

Maybe they should make cannister shotgun shells!

Actually most shotgun shells with pellets (shot) have a shotcup surrounding them which protects the bore. Only after leaving the barrel will the shotcup spread apart and release the pellets which allows the pellets to spread.

It has been a few decades since I last re-loaded shotgun shells. At that time, there was a "wad" located between the powder and the shot. When fired, the wad pushed the shot down the barrel. Perhaps all of that has changed these days.

J

Most shotcups act as a wadding as well. They are generally a tube with 4 slits equally spaced around the circumferance of the shotcup with a semi-rigid base all made of translucent plastic. It sits directly over the powder in the shell and is filled with the shot up to the top of the shotcup. When fired the powder charge propels the shotcup down the barrel which protects any rifling from damage by the shot. Once it leaves the barrel, the shotcup opens like a flower, releasing the shot. They are much less damaging to a shotgun barrel then shot alone and generally give a tighter pattern since the shot is held tight for longer before being allowed to spread from the falling away of the shotcup.

Might have CW cassions been of different demensions, let's say different manufacturers, that would allow for discrepency in the amount of munitions between batteries? Certainly the nomenclature of a six pounder's solid shot would have been less than a 20 pounder, hence allowing more space in a cassion for a 6 pounder ammo.

BOSTON wrote:

Might have CW cassions been of different demensions, let's say different manufacturers, that would allow for discrepency in the amount of munitions between batteries? Certainly the nomenclature of a six pounder's solid shot would have been less than a 20 pounder, hence allowing more space in a cassion for a 6 pounder ammo.

Good questions!

Again, from the 1864 Field Artillery Tactics (and from the 1862 Ordnance Manual): "The same ammunition chest is adapted to the limber and to the caisson. The interior arrangement varies with the calibre and description of the piece and the ammunition to be used." It goes on to describe how the interior participations are varied dependent upon the size of the gun, hence a variation in the number rounds carried in the chest; i.e. the smaller the calibre the larger the number of total rounds.

Each limber for Field Artillery (as opposed to Siege Artillery, for example) was the same demension for all guns, although the weight of each could vary depending upon the numbers of interiors partions and trays.. The difference was the size of each round. For example, on page 359 of the Ordnance Manual, is a table ("WEIGHTS OF GUN-CARRIAGES AND CAISSONS, EQUIPPED FOR FIELD SERVICE) listing 50 rounds for each 6-Pdr. gun, 32 rounds for each 12-Pdr gun, 39 rounds for each 12 Howitzer, etc.

In a nutshell, the limbers and caissons were virtually the same for all field pieces. Hope that answers your inquiry.

J

J

You covered my inquiry very well! I'd like to take it one step further and ask if all limbers and guns be interchangable? example; could a 6lb, model 1841 limber be used to tow a 20 lb. parrot gun? With the thought in mind that the different manufactuerd guns would have a variety of axil heights and widths, gun tail (Length) (hardware) arraingements. Was there a uniform way of hooking the gun tail to the limber (hook + eye ex.) or were there some other methods to joining a gun to limbers? When a gun was purchased in that era, I would think it would come in a matched set (gun + limber) from the factory.

BOSTON