Tell me more! Is it Dangerous?

[R. Porter]

I got home from work this evening to find a box on my porch. I unlocked my door and then tried to scoop up the box one-handed. It was at that point that I noticed it was heavy. Very heavy! With some struggling I was able to get my hand under it and lift. I was able to get it into the house before I dropped it on the stairs. They were stairs to the second floor so I didn't have to worry about it clumping down the steps like a no-good tipsy brother-in-law. After I put some things away I got out the box cutter.

It had some packing material and some bubble wrap.

When I got the bubble wrap off I found a cannon ball. I won it at auction. I wasn't expecting to win. I wasn't going to bid but after a co-worker showed me a Confederate one he bought at the beach I couldn't resist just one bid on it.

Now that I have it, I've given it the once-over and can't find a hole where the powder was removed. The only noticeable hole has a fuse screwed into it and that one looks rusted to the fuse. How can I tell if it has been disarmed? I don't think the people at work would like it if I brought it for show and tell. I already had to remove my collection of 20mm shells and hand grenades a few years back. I was going to show a co-worker my anti-tank mine a couple of years ago but I couldn't find it, it's in a box in the house somewhere. The ammunition, grenades and mine were all inert. Some were painted blue to show they were training examples. I don't know about the cannon ball.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Originally, your round would have been strapped to a sabot. ( French word for wooden shoe. )

A linen powder bag would have been attached to form a "fixed round." As in the example above, the hollow interior could have been filled with black powder to form a "shell." Note the red color, indicating a spherical case round.

Alternatively, it could have been filled with pistol balls & liquid sulphur to solidify the load. You may have heard the "spherical case" round referred to by the name of its inventor, Sir Henry Shrapnel.

Both the shell & spherical case were ignited by a timed fuse that was attached to the round.

Only rifled rounds were given contact fuzes. Which simplifies your task to identify what kind of fuze is screwed into the round. That makes this less than 37 fuzes to choose from.

Link

Quick Identification of Civil War Artillery Fuzes

Numbered key to 37 artillery projectile fuzes, from paper time fuzes to Bormann, Brooke, Hotchkiss, Parrott, Schenkl, and Sawyer types, with photo charts.

civilwarartillery.com

The fuze contained a bursting charge. It was intended to ignite the powder of the shell or break the spherical case apart. Ideally at ten yards in front & above the target, the small charge goes off with a hollow "POCK!" The momentum of the trajectory impels a shower of balls & outer shell fragments onto the target… murderous.

Fortunately, a spherical case round is inert. Unless you know a homicidal maniac who would leave a round capable of destroying you & your house on the porch, it is highly unlikely it is filled with powder. Albeit, my EOD sergeant nephew would take it to a safe place & blow it up without batting an eye… just saying.

The time fuze itself is harmless… the bursting charge not.

Artillery rounds were color coded:

• Black: Solid-shot (solid iron projectiles with no explosive charge).
• Red: Case-shot (shrapnel or spherical case rounds containing metal balls).
• Orange: Common-shell (hollow iron shells containing a black powder explosive charge).

Civil war fuzes are ignited by the firing of the charge. Absent that, they were very stable, all but impossible to accidentally ignite.

Bottom line is that you are the person risking traumatic amputation by fiddling with this thing that, is after all, an infernal device whose only purpose is mayhem, mutilation & murder. Thoughtful present, that.

 

[UCVRelics]

I've given it the once-over and can't find a hole where the powder was removed

If you don't see another small hole (usually on the bottom) then its still has powder in it. That's a nice Bormann fuse and they are pretty stable. If you don't feel comfortable with it I will disarm it for free if you pay postage both ways. I have done over a 100 in my life and still have all my fingers

 

[Allyn]

How on earth did that get shipped via USPS ??? Don't you have to declare the contents and verify that they are non-lethal?

 

[redbob]

The short answer to your question is that if it hasn't been disarmed then it is quite dangerous and I would have some serious questions for the person who sold it to you. I have received a number of pieces of ordnance through the mail /shipping and I have never had a reputable dealer send me a live one as it's really a bad business practice to blow up your customers.

 

[JOHN42768]

Have you asked the seller as to if it had been deactivated?

 

[Bushwhacker Detectorist]

black powder in a shell isn't inherently dangerous unless there's heat. You could drop it, or kick the **** thing like a soccer ball and it wouldn't go off(only if it's not percussion fuze, yours isn't). They get knocked around with plows in fields and you don't hear them exploding. That being said though. It's still dangerous just having it filled. Never know how it might eventually get heat.

 

[gary]

black powder in a shell isn't inherently dangerous unless there's heat. You could drop it, or kick the **** thing like a soccer ball and it wouldn't go off(only if it's not percussion fuze, yours isn't). They get knocked around with plows in fields and you don't hear them exploding. That being said though. It's still dangerous just having it filled. Never know how it might eventually get heat.

Why, put it in the fireplace with burning wood; just like that incident we read about earlier. I wouldn't want a shell filled with blackpowder. Provided it's dried and the fuse is good (or someone decides to make hot shot for burning a wood ship), it can still go kaboom.

 

[DoctorKingSchultz]

I got home from work this evening to find a box on my porch. I unlocked my door and then tried to scoop up the box one-handed. It was at that point that I noticed it was heavy. Very heavy! With some struggling I was able to get my hand under it and lift. I was able to get it into the house before I dropped it on the stairs. They were stairs to the second floor so I didn't have to worry about it clumping down the steps like a no-good tipsy brother-in-law. After I put some things away I got out the box cutter.

View attachment 592780

It had some packing material and some bubble wrap.

View attachment 592779

View attachment 592778

When I got the bubble wrap off I found a cannon ball. I won it at auction. I wasn't expecting to win. I wasn't going to bid but after a co-worker showed me a Confederate one he bought at the beach I couldn't resist just one bid on it.

View attachment 592777

Now that I have it, I've given it the once-over and can't find a hole where the powder was removed. The only noticeable hole has a fuse screwed into it and that one looks rusted to the fuse. How can I tell if it has been disarmed? I don't think the people at work would like it if I brought it for show and tell. I already had to remove my collection of 20mm shells and hand grenades a few years back. I was going to show a co-worker my anti-tank mine a couple of years ago but I couldn't find it, it's in a box in the house somewhere. The ammunition, grenades and mine were all inert. Some were painted blue to show they were training examples. I don't know about the cannon ball.

Sam White in about 2008 of Chester, Richmond Virginia was widely reported to have been killed by what, to the best of the digging I did a while back, an IX(9")Dahlgren shell with an Alger watercap fuze if I recall, ending his life when he used an angle grinder that sent sparks directly into the mechanical fuze, imitating the same effect you can expect the firing of the gun to have in setting off the powder train within it.

That is highly rare to be sure, and I've heard of little else beyond maimings happening in a few accidents among collectors in the 60s & 70s; your risk is very low. It does depend on the exact type of fuze, i.e. certain types of concussion fuzes in rifled designs, employing chemical mechanisms even on their own can be dangerous, like the Tice and Sawyer designs if I remember, with great caution advised to anyone excavating or handling them, but generally with most designs, what people will tell you is true - there is little danger in actuality unless a very, very unfortunate series and events, usually combined with some very poor decisions take place. Deactivation is not a bad idea though. This is a great artefact, I would personally try to have a professional deactivate it for you rather than risk destroying such a good specimen. Contact who sold it to you if these details are not even clear though, they should know whether it was deactivated or not.

This looks a lot like a Bormann time fuze. On a spherical case or shell shot for a smoothbore gun. There is a powder train mechanism and you set it off by punching into one of the dials with a fuze tool and exposing it to great heat, i.e. the flame from the explosion of a charge behind it inside of the barrel of a smoothbore field gun. You would have to intentionally try to harm yourself or be very, very careless to manage to set it off, if the powder is still capable of exploding (which it is best to assume it still is, and not try to make it.)

IX" Dahlgren shell with Alger-type watercap mechanical time fuze. Still deadly in February 2008 with blackpowder that happened to still be active, and by accidentally simulating the environment of a barrel in the process of firing on a fuze that still worked. You appear from here to have a 12lb(?) Napoleon shell of some kind according to the odds (and appearance), with a Bormann time fuze. If the powder was new, if you used a chisel to punch into one of the dials and then sent a shower of sparks into the fuze, it would explode. As it is now, the risk is very low.

Exploded (no pun intended, only coincidence) view of a Bormann fuze. I think this gives a good idea.

A little glimpse at the late, great John D. Bartleton Jr.'s diagrams relating particularly to the Bormann fuze... a name to become very familiar with if you are interested in artillery projectiles!

Note that impact fuzes are not entirely only for rifled shot only - notice the intentional illustrations of Tice & Broun concussion fuzes along with these other illustrations for the 12lb. This is because such specimens have indeed been found. A concussion fuze differs from a percussion fuze, in the simplest way, by being much harder to set off, and while percussion fuzes typically have a moving mechanism doing all the work, concussion fuzes - i.e. the Tice being a great example - incorporates an impressively complex chemical mechanism. Some concussion fuzes are very simple, i.e. the Sawyer ultimately encases a mixture underneath a brass cap. The idea is that even a very rough ramming is not enough to set it off while a sudden move from inertia alone can set off plenty of percussion (mechanical) slider designs, heck, even as late as WW1 there are countless designs that are very familiar to anyone who knows ACW fuzes (There are more similarities to ACW and WW1 fuzes than you'd imagine). As a result, they are an impact fuze design you do see sometimes in smoothbore shot, being more stable.

 

[R. Porter]

If you don't see another small hole (usually on the bottom) then its still has powder in it. That's a nice Bormann fuse and they are pretty stable. If you don't feel comfortable with it I will disarm it for free if you pay postage both ways. I have done over a 100 in my life and still have all my fingers

That sounds good to me. What is the best way to ship? I would feel guilty telling the people at the local post office, "nothing dangerous here, no need to open up the box and take a peek!" Obviously it didn't bother the shipping department at the auction house. However, first I should post pictures of the rest of the shell to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

[R. Porter]

I remember the Sam White incident; he lived about 10 miles away from me. As I recall, one source indicated that the black powder had already been removed; but there was still some unknowingly left in the shell. Apparently a large chunk of the exploded shell came through the roof of a house in a subdivision a quarter of a mile away. I have a healthy concern for live ordinance.

 

[Bushwhacker Detectorist]

Why, put it in the fireplace with burning wood; just like that incident we read about earlier. I wouldn't want a shell filled with blackpowder. Provided it's dried and the fuse is good (or someone decides to make hot shot for burning a wood ship), it can still go kaboom.

Yes that's why I said it's still dangerous. But not, just moving it around makes the thing go kaboom. Unlike old dynamite that's been sweating nitroglycerin. That stuff is scary.

 

[DoctorKingSchultz]

I remember the Sam White incident; he lived about 10 miles away from me. As I recall, one source indicated that the black powder had already been removed; but there was still some unknowingly left in the shell. Apparently a large chunk of the exploded shell came through the roof of a house in a subdivision a quarter of a mile away. I have a healthy concern for live ordinance.

Oh wow, didn't expect the story to be so close - you certainly know it then. I do remember the particular detail of a piece of the shell hitting 1/4 a mile away. Can't quite remember, but some reports said it broke a window as well. Perhaps both. So yeah, then it looks like you fully understand the potential risk... unlikely, but if it was able to happen in 2008 it certainly could today with the wrong decisions and poor luck. I remember White being described as a lifelong expert ordnance excavator with 40 years under his belt, at that. No amateur. It can happen to anyone.

 

[UCVRelics]

That sounds good to me. What is the best way to ship? I would feel guilty telling the people at the local post office, "nothing dangerous here, no need to open up the box and take a peek!" Obviously it didn't bother the shipping department at the auction house. However, first I should post pictures of the rest of the shell to make sure I'm not missing something.

Look it over real good to make sure its not already done. I will PM you.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

How on earth did that get shipped via USPS ??? Don't you have to declare the contents and verify that they are non-lethal?

Not a lawyer but I am thinking or at least hoping) that the auction house would bear at least some responsibility for seeing to it that the cannon ball was shipped to our fellow board member in a safe and legal manner. Perhaps an attorney like @Belfoured could weigh in?

 

[Rhea Cole]

Not a lawyer but I am thinking or at least hoping) that the auction house would bear at least some responsibility for seeing to it that the cannon ball was shipped to our fellow board member in a safe and legal manner. Perhaps an attorney like @Belfoured could weigh in?

USPS REGULATION IS UNAMBIGUOUS:

Replica or Inert Explosive Devices

Replica or inert explosive devices that are not dangerous but resemble explosive devices (i.e., simulated grenades) are mailable provided all following conditions are met:

1. The package is presented by the mailer at a retail counter.
2. Registered Mail service is used.
3. The address side of the package is labeled with "REPLICA EXPLOSIVE" using letters at least 1/4-inch high.

Posting a live artillery round is illegal. It violates something like 300 laws & regulations. Doing so deliberately would initially be treated as an act of terrorism. I don't think there is any need to enumerate what that would involve.

ON AVERAGE ONE PERSON / YEAR IS KILLED BY CIVIL WAR ERA ORDINANCE IN THE USA.

It is a lot more common for someone to stumble on live Civil War resonant than you might think. I don't know how many times someone has sneered at me because I cautioned them about handling live Civil War ordinance they were carrying in a cardboard box in the back of a pickup truck. The things really are good for only one thing, killing people. Read more here.

Link

https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/dispatches-articles/85/901/Civil+War+Cannonball+Exploded+%26+Killed+140+Years+After+it+Was+Fired

Link

Live Civil War artillery shell found at Gettysburg, ‘could have killed a dozen people’: report

The archaeologist who found the shell “laid it gently on the ground, took a picture of it and ran for the hills,” a park spokesman said.

nypost.com

Link

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2008/05/06/post-174/31558853/

Link

Civil War ordnance exposed by Matthew detonated – The History Blog

www.thehistoryblog.com

 

[Bushwhacker Detectorist]

USPS REGULATION IS UNAMBIGUOUS:

Replica or Inert Explosive Devices

Replica or inert explosive devices that are not dangerous but resemble explosive devices (i.e., simulated grenades) are mailable provided all following conditions are met:

1. The package is presented by the mailer at a retail counter.
2. Registered Mail service is used.
3. The address side of the package is labeled with "REPLICA EXPLOSIVE" using letters at least 1/4-inch high.

Posting a live artillery round is illegal. It violates something like 300 laws & regulations. Doing so deliberately would initially be treated as an act of terrorism. I don't think there is any need to enumerate what that would involve.

ON AVERAGE ONE PERSON / YEAR A PERSON IS KILLED BY CIVIL WAR ERA ORDINANCE.

It is a lot more common for someone to stumble on live Civil War resonant than you might think. I don't know how many times someone has sneered at me because I cautioned them about handling live Civil War ordinance they were carrying in a cardboard box in the back of a pickup truck. The things really are good for only one thing, killing people. Read more here.

Link

https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/dispatches-articles/85/901/Civil+War+Cannonball+Exploded+%26+Killed+140+Years+After+it+Was+Fired

Link

Live Civil War artillery shell found at Gettysburg, ‘could have killed a dozen people’: report

The archaeologist who found the shell “laid it gently on the ground, took a picture of it and ran for the hills,” a park spokesman said.

nypost.com

Link

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2008/05/06/post-174/31558853/

Link

Civil War ordnance exposed by Matthew detonated – The History Blog

www.thehistoryblog.com

which is why something tells me it somehow got disarmed. I don't think USPS is that stupid to completely miss a freaking live cannon ball. Even though op says he thinks the fuze is rusted. It's possible they replaced the fuze. It's in literally mint condition for something I assume was in the ground.

 

[Bushwhacker Detectorist]

Better yet. If you could get calipers. Measure the diameter of the shell. That would tell us the type of spherical shell. Then weigh the cannon ball. The weight of an empty shell is different than a weight of a shell with the black powder still. Then Google the weight of a full shell and depending on if it's close to a weight of a full shell, or way below you can tell if it's full or not.

 

[bayonet]

If you don't see another small hole (usually on the bottom) then its still has powder in it. That's a nice Bormann fuse and they are pretty stable. If you don't feel comfortable with it I will disarm it for free if you pay postage both ways. I have done over a 100 in my life and still have all my fingers

If it was fired off at one time it should also have a hole poked into the bormann fuse. Another reason it could be live if no hole in the bottom. I have one with 2 holes poked into the fuse. Guess the Gunner/Loader got confused or the Officer changed his mind on the range after Private Snuffy already poked a hole on the first command.

 

[R. Porter]

I've taken some more pictures. This is the top.