U.S. 12 pdr. Spherical Case Shot Shell

[Barrycdog]

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[redbob]

Excellent diagram, Southern caseshot would be similar with the exception that they often used pine tar or pitch as the matrix and a wooden time fuse adaptor since they could never quite get the Bormann fuse right.

 

[Patrick H]

Nasty thing, isn't it?

 

[Bob Owen]

They caused a lot of deaths!

 

[Patrick H]

I am sure they did, Bob. The technology of rendering death and dismemberment during the Civil War far exceeded the battlefield tactics to avoid death and dismemberment. You know... Line up a few hundred or a few thousand boys and see how many are left when they get to the enemy's works. Well.... darn (I would love to use more profane expletives, but I won't.) How did those brave boys endure that stuff?

 

[Bob Owen]

Endurance came in the belief that it wasn't up to them but up to God.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I use one as a bookend, ( deactivated of course )

 

[Patrick H]

Endurance came in the belief that it wasn't up to them but up to God.

That's a short, simple answer, but I think it is quite profound in its simplicity. I agree with you, Bob.

 

[AUG]

In rare instances when a battery crew ran out of canister and were desperate for short-range ammunition, they would take a case shot, remove the fuse plug and fire it that way. It would explode just at the end of the barrel, sending all the shrapnel outward. They called it "rotten shot" due to the smell of the bursting charge.
A good thread on it:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/out-of-canister-rotten-shot.75644/