Did you ever wonder...what was put inside the various kinds of Civil War shells and canisters? From The Pilot, September 8, 1863 GRAPE, CANISTER AND SHRAPNEL. Grape consists of nine shot arranged in three layers, which vary in size according to the calibre of the gun; they are held together by two plates of about 1-14 inch less diameter than the calibre of the gun, two rings, a bolt, and a nut. The canvas bag arrangement is too old for this war; it is not so simple or durable, and has not been used for years. Canister for a gun contains 27 small cast iron balls, arranged in four layers, the top of 6. the remainder of 7 each; for a howitzer it contains 48 small iron balls in four layers of 12 each; for the same calibre you will see that the balls for canister is a tin cylinder, closed at the bottom by a thick cast iron plate or a wooden sabot, and at the top by sheet iron plate with a handle attached; the interstices between the balls are closely packed with sawdust to prevent crowding when the piece is fired. Shrapnel consists of a very thin shell, which is filled with musket balls, the interstices are then filled by pouring in molten sulphur; a hole is then bored through the mass of sulphur and bullets to receive the bursting charge. Now to explain the difference between a "shrapnel" or "spherical case" and a "shell." The destructive force of a shrapnel is what it receives from the charge in the gun, the powder in the shrapnel being only to break the envelop and spread the balls, they still move forward by force of the impulse they received from the charge in the gun. A shell is made very much thicker than the envelop of a shrapnel, and nearly filled with powder, and will do great execution, if it explodes on the ground, it having destructive qualities to itself, aside from the discharge of the gun. A shrapnel shell has only half the charge of powder that a shell proper has; thus a 24 pounder shrapnel contains 175 musket balls, 6 ounces of powder, and weighs 2,275 pounds. A 24 pounder shell has 12 ounces of powder, and weighs 1,975 pounds. A 6 pounder shrapnel has 49 musket balls and 25 ounces of powder.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 22:46:25 +0000