Lt.Arty James Rifles, the Bronze Bomber.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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My October 2020 Civil War Times issue arrived two days ago. The "Armament" section has an article, Bronze Bomber by Craig Swain. The article is interesting to people like me, but probably nothing new to artillery junkies. The article also used the term "fort killer". So were these smooth bore bronze cannons that effective on forts when they used the James Shell?
 
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All but one of the "James" pattern small bores (up to the 14#er which was a James design) rifling used bronze guns (Ames') rifled to accept James ordnance. The "Fort Killer" moniker came from 32 &42#iron smoothbores rifled to accept 6.4" & 7" James ordnance which was effectively used against the brickwork of Fort Pulaski. This effectively proved that brick fortifications couldn't stand up to rifled ordnance with it's higher velocities and harder hitting/piercing capabilities. 6.4 & 7" James Bolts
James Bolts.JPG
 
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Glad to hear Swain is still writing articles.

Not to hijack your thread, but did they happen to mention what the heck happened to Craig's "To the Sound of the Guns" blog?
 
The guns themselves were abject failures, as were the rifled six-pounders which preceded them - being of bronze construction, the metal proved too soft and the rifling didn't hold up well at all. They were fairly quickly removed from active service and the 3" replaced with the familiar wrought iron ordnance rifles. We will see literally tons of them at Shiloh next week!
 
The guns themselves were abject failures, as were the rifled six-pounders which preceded them - being of bronze construction, the metal proved too soft and the rifling didn't hold up well at all. They were fairly quickly removed from active service and the 3" replaced with the familiar wrought iron ordnance rifles. We will see literally tons of them at Shiloh next week!

 
In the article Craig Swain used images of a Ames manufactured 12-pounder. The article has nice images, but the text is terse.
 
In the article Craig Swain used images of a Ames manufactured 12-pounder. The article has nice images, but the text is terse.
When James rifled the 12# Napoleon, he came up with the strangest (and rarest) of the James projectiles; the "heavy (4.62")12#er.
 
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30 Pound Parrot Rifle demo at Fort Pulaski

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30 Pound Parrott of the type that used Aimes' projectile design to pockmark Fort Pulaski.
The solid brickwork camera left is the corner of the fort that was destroyed & forced the garrison to surrender.

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Closeup of the impact of the blunt nosed Aimes bolts on Ft Pulaski.
On the inside of the upper bulwark, there was an over that left a perfect impression of the shape of the nose of the shot.
The bricked up gallery is where the Immortal 600 were imprisoned.

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14 pound Aimes Rifle type One, Chicago Board of Trade Battery position, Stones River N.B.
The CBT Battery fired almost 1,500 Aimes projectiles on Dec 331, 1862.
Some 1841 Model 6 Pdrs were rifled to accept the Aimes projectile, as well as identical new cast tubes like this one.

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The Aimes Type 2 is an elegant, very modern looking design.
The battery placed here near the Round Forrest fired over 1,000 rounds on Dec 31, 1862.
The Army of the Cumberland had 45 Aimes rifles in June 1863 at the start of the Tullahoma Campaign. The Army of the Tennessee had Aimes rifle batteries during the Vicksburg Campaign. If memory serves, there was at least one Aimes battery at Gettysburg. After the Tullahoma-Chickamauga-Chattanooga, the Aimes Rifles were relegated to fortifications. With the death of Aimes, there was no longer anybody lobbying for the Aimes Rifles. The projectiles were used until the end of the war. There are four Aimes Type Ones on the square in Franklin TN.

Indeed, the bronze rifled James were a transition piece. However, they were very effective. The idea was that bronze guns were extremely durable, unlike their cast iron contemporaries. The bronze could easily be recast into new guns. The advent of the semi-steel 3" ordinance rifle of the same profile made the bronze Type Two obsolete.

Note: The reason for the smooth model looking design of the 3" rifle was the discovery that the 90 degree corners of the decorative elements on cast-iron cannon projected cracks. Fatigue failures from the stresses caused by the traditional decretive elements account for the smooth bottle shape of cannon circa 1850 onward. Of course, the bronzed Type Two was not subject to the fatigue cracks, but Aimes adopted the elegant modern shape to be stylish, if nothing else.
 
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