Ammo Sabot??

Virginia Dave

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Artillery newby here. Can someone explain to me what a sabot is? I assume the t is silent. How is it used and what does it do. If you have photos that would be great.
 
A sabot is soft metal (lead, copper or iron being the most popular) placed on a rifled shell/bolt (either sides or bottom) to enable the soft metal to engage the rifling and cause the shell/bolt to spin. On a sphericial ball/shell it is the wooden block that is on the bottom of the ball and held there by metal straps which places the fuze to the front of the gun where it can be ignited. The Tennessee sabot is a loose term applied primarily to Mullane shells which refers to a copper plate held to the body of the shell/bolt by a bolt-this enables the shell/bolt to engage the threads of the rifling. I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but try www.civilwarartillery.com and you'll see what I mean.
60414045_2439604552716596_8923381164073287680_n (2).jpg
Top right-Tennessee Sabot Middle row-various sabots Bottom-"thrown" (discarded) sabots.. Photo by author's collections.
070.JPG
 
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A sabot is soft metal (lead, copper or iron being the most popular) placed on a rifled shell/bolt (either sides or bottom) to enable the soft metal to engage the rifling and cause the shell/bolt to spin. On a sphericial ball/shell it is the wooden block that is on the bottom of the ball and held there by metal straps which places the fuze to the front of the gun where it can be ignited. The Tennessee sabot is a loose term applied primarily to Mullane shells which refers to a copper plate held to the body of the shell/bolt by a bolt-this enables the shell/bolt to engage the threads of the rifling. I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but try www.civilwarartillery.com and you'll see what I mean.View attachment 345431Top right-Tennessee Sabot Middle row-various sabots Bottom-"thrown" (discarded) sabots.. Photo by author's collections.View attachment 345433
A sabot is soft metal (lead, copper or iron being the most popular) placed on a rifled shell/bolt (either sides or bottom) to enable the soft metal to engage the rifling and cause the shell/bolt to spin. On a sphericial ball/shell it is the wooden block that is on the bottom of the ball and held there by metal straps which places the fuze to the front of the gun where it can be ignited. The Tennessee sabot is a loose term applied primarily to Mullane shells which refers to a copper plate held to the body of the shell/bolt by a bolt-this enables the shell/bolt to engage the threads of the rifling. I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but try www.civilwarartillery.com and you'll see what I mean.View attachment 345431Top right-Tennessee Sabot Middle row-various sabots Bottom-"thrown" (discarded) sabots.. Photo by author's collections.View attachment 345433

Thank you for the link. It has great information there. I will be spending more time there before I ask more questions. Thanks again.
 
A sabot is soft metal (lead, copper or iron being the most popular) placed on a rifled shell/bolt (either sides or bottom) to enable the soft metal to engage the rifling and cause the shell/bolt to spin. On a sphericial ball/shell it is the wooden block that is on the bottom of the ball and held there by metal straps which places the fuze to the front of the gun where it can be ignited. The Tennessee sabot is a loose term applied primarily to Mullane shells which refers to a copper plate held to the body of the shell/bolt by a bolt-this enables the shell/bolt to engage the threads of the rifling. I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but try www.civilwarartillery.com and you'll see what I mean.View attachment 345431Top right-Tennessee Sabot Middle row-various sabots Bottom-"thrown" (discarded) sabots.. Photo by author's collections.View attachment 345433
Are these your shells?
 
There's also a modern usage which applies to high-velocity guns, mainly on tanks, to increase velocity and armor penetration. We might see for example a 105mm sabot enclosing a 40mm dartlike projectile, often of dense metal like depleted uranium. The sabot falls off as soon as it clears the barrel. Basically it has the "push" of a 105 behind the 40mm penetrator, giving it extremely high velocity.
 
A sabot is soft metal (lead, copper or iron being the most popular) placed on a rifled shell/bolt (either sides or bottom) to enable the soft metal to engage the rifling and cause the shell/bolt to spin. On a sphericial ball/shell it is the wooden block that is on the bottom of the ball and held there by metal straps which places the fuze to the front of the gun where it can be ignited. The Tennessee sabot is a loose term applied primarily to Mullane shells which refers to a copper plate held to the body of the shell/bolt by a bolt-this enables the shell/bolt to engage the threads of the rifling. I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but try www.civilwarartillery.com and you'll see what I mean.View attachment 345431Top right-Tennessee Sabot Middle row-various sabots Bottom-"thrown" (discarded) sabots.. Photo by author's collections.View attachment 345433
Very nice and educational post, thank you. Wiki also has a big article on sabots. Wish I could read your illustration, which I cannot find at your cited link.
 
There's also a modern usage which applies to high-velocity guns, mainly on tanks, to increase velocity and armor penetration. We might see for example a 105mm sabot enclosing a 40mm dartlike projectile, often of dense metal like depleted uranium. The sabot falls off as soon as it clears the barrel. Basically it has the "push" of a 105 behind the 40mm penetrator, giving it extremely high velocity.
On modern shells (other than the disappearing sabot ones), they are referred to as "Driving Bands".
 
Very nice and educational post, thank you. Wiki also has a big article on sabots. Wish I could read your illustration, which I cannot find at your cited link.
I got it out of an old reference book and basically the bottom row are the sabots, the middle row are the projectile's view(s) from above showing the retaining bands (or ball cross sections) and the top row is the entire projectile including the powder bag.
 
Sabot is French for wooden shoe.
smoothbore fixed rounds.jpeg
In this chart of smooth bore artillery rounds, the sabot is a wooden disc attached to the ball with four metal straps. The powder bag is attached to the sabot creating what was called a fixed round. Unlike rifled cannon, smoothbore field pieces were loaded with one ram. The force of the charge would break the sabot away from the ball. Infantry disliked artillery firing overhead because the sabots & the strapping would rain down onto them.

case shot with sabot.jpeg
In this original example, the straps are attached to a ring that encircles the fuse. The groove around the base of the sabot was where the powder bag was attached to the sabot. The bores of original Civil War bronze cannon clearly show marks from the straps.

When firing double canister, the cannoneers would smack the sabot down onto the rim of the wheel tire to break away the powder bag. In one account, the infantryman who was serving as a replacement #2 didn't break the powder bag off the second round. The resulting double charge made the gun jump big time.

The word sabotage comes from French hand weavers who threw their wooden shoes into modern steam powered looms.
 
Some trivia about the final t on French words for those who are not familiar with the language. There is no rule about pronouncing it or not, so it must be memorized for each word. Of course, we all know that in this case the word is pronounced sabo.
 
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