Artillery Shell Display

[Woods-walker]

If you live or travel through north-central Virginia you are probably already familiar with The Clark Brothers gun shop located at the intersection of US Route 29 and 17 in Warrenton.
It's about 40 miles nw of Fredericksburg and about 30 miles northeast of Culpepper.

The Clark Brothers and their family have owned and operated a gun shop at the same location for over 70 years.
When I was in high school in the mid 1960s (yes I attended school with Washington and Jefferson) "Uncle John" [Clark] would buy civil war relics we found. In turn "Uncle John" would sell the relics to tourist- or keep the rare finds for his own collection. A five gallon bucket filled with Minnie's would fetch us a whopping $5. Enough for 10 gallons of gas in our tank, and a couple of burgers and milkshakes at the Tasty Freeze next door to the gun shop.
I stopped by The Clark Brothers yesterday to get a new rifle scope for a "self"Christmas gift.
While I was there I took a couple of photos of "Uncle John's shell display that I want to share (that is an original Colt rifle)

A local relic hunter found this next shell near Petersburg. The shell had exploded but after half a dozen trips from Warrenton to Petersburg the lucky relic hunter managed to find all the fragments and piece them together.

If you look closely at the fuse hole you can see where some of the fragments were put together.

 

[170infantry]

I lived in Warrenton from 1987 to 1991...I used to go there quite often. I bought my first gun there in the late 80's which was a repop 3-band Enfield. That's a cool display!

 

[Woods-walker]

I lived in Warrenton from 1987 to 1991...I used to go there quite often. I bought my first gun there in the late 80's which was a repop 3-band Enfield. That's a cool display!

So true. They are fine people and a fantastic staff.

 

[redbob]

Very impressive, I'm most curious about the projectile that is the 7th from the left as I've never seen one quite like it.

 

[Woods-walker]

I know next to nothing about cw artillery guns or artillery ammunition.
But here's another story you might find intriguing; When I was there, Dan Sheets (an employee) and I were talking about his recent relic hunting success. During our story swaps, he showed me a picture of an unidentified shell he found. To date, none of the area shell "experts" have been able to identify it.
It was proven to have been made in Richmond. It was published in a cw relic magazine without success identifying it by the subscribers.
Several "experts" agreed it was pre war, while one suggested it possibly was made to derail a locomotive ( it was found in a location supporting the latter option). Dan found two of these mystery shells. I regret not taking a photo of it.

 

[redbob]

Very impressive, I'm most curious about the projectile that is the 7th from the left as I've never seen one quite like it.

A tip of the hat to @rebel brit who identified the shell in question as a 4.5" British Armstrong shell. Now I know.

 

[UCVRelics]

If you live or travel through north-central Virginia you are probably already familiar with The Clark Brothers gun shop located at the intersection of US Route 29 and 17 in Warrenton.
It's about 40 miles nw of Fredericksburg and about 30 miles northeast of Culpepper.

The Clark Brothers and their family have owned and operated a gun shop at the same location for over 70 years.
When I was in high school in the mid 1960s (yes I attended school with Washington and Jefferson) "Uncle John" [Clark] would buy civil war relics we found. In turn "Uncle John" would sell the relics to tourist- or keep the rare finds for his own collection. A five gallon bucket filled with Minnie's would fetch us a whopping $5. Enough for 10 gallons of gas in our tank, and a couple of burgers and milkshakes at the Tasty Freeze next door to the gun shop.
I stopped by The Clark Brothers yesterday to get a new rifle scope for a "self"Christmas gift.
While I was there I took a couple of photos of "Uncle John's shell display that I want to share (that is an original Colt rifle)
View attachment 460668
A local relic hunter found this next shell near Petersburg. The shell had exploded but after half a dozen trips from Warrenton to Petersburg the lucky relic hunter managed to find all the fragments and piece them together.
View attachment 460671If you look closely at the fuse hole you can see where some of the fragments were put together.

Great looking arty display. Thanks for sharing it with us. Merry Christmas.

 

[Cornpone and Molasses]

I love to see old gun shop displays. Civil War displays even more so! Thanks for sharing!
Merry Christmas

 

[Woods-walker]

Merry Christmas to you too

 

[JPChurch]

Great place indeed!!! I've been going there since the early 60's as a youngster. My dad used to drive me and my brother out there just to browse and enjoy all the neat things for sale and on display and to use the firing range out back. I bought one of their handmade kepi's back in the late 70's. I still have it; it's very high quality. They used to sell all the best fireworks there too, stuff Virginia doesn't allow anymore. It was way out in the boondocks back then. Now days the Warrenton pike is quite busy. I can get there in about 35 minutes from my house. I'll have to drive out one day soon to visit again. Thanks for sharing. The staff is top notch as you mention

 

[Woods-walker]

Be sure to ask for Dan (if you don't know him) and ask him to show you pictures of his recent finds. Quite impressive!
He was waiting on a customer and stopped long enough to hand me his phone so I could browse his relic photos

 

[JPChurch]

Be sure to ask for Dan (if you don't know him) and ask him to show you pictures of his recent finds. Quite impressive!
He was waiting on a customer and stopped long enough to hand me his phone so I could browse his relic photos

Will do!!!!!

 

[JPChurch]

I finally made it out to Clark's this morning. Busy even at 9:30 am for a Friday. The range out back was not lacking in reports. They finally had black powder back in stock, I was looking for 2FG in particular. They also had some percussion caps #10 size for revolvers. What a great visit it turned out to be... I hadn't visited in at least 11 years. Great staff....they aim to please........They also take in consignments at 20%. Lots of high quality used firearms.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Cool displays!
Thanks for the pics!