My First Live Hotchkiss Artillery Shell

[genlee]

I can check this relic off my bucket list now. This is a Hotchkiss 2 1/2" diameter shell

Tony, Gerry and myself were at a new site on Saturday. Well it is not a new site as in never been hunter, but new for us. I had gone out a few weekends ago to scout it out and found several fired bullets, four to be exact and all I did was walk in a straight line, for one hour.

Ok so back to yesterday, we got to the field around 7:45 am, and got busy.

About any hour into the hunt we all had a few relics, but nothing to right home about. So I head to the top of a ridge, that looked trashy and it was, but nothing to bad, just a lot of digging.

So my Fisher screams at me with a 78 solid signal but it was a high Iron reading, And it was 14+ inches so I figure it has to be something old. And it was right under a large root. After about 30 minutes of digging, probing and digging and probing I start to see the base of the shell. Now I was not sure what it was, as I have dug axles before, so out of the ground this bad boy popped.

I have to say I was a bit intimidated holding an unexploded shell in my hands, so I ran down the hill figuring if I was going to go it was going to be a skip in my step and amile on my face.

So this is my best for the year.

 

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[DiggerinVA]

Awesome....very cool!

 

[CoilyGirl]

Awesome find!

 

[romeo-1]

Awesome find...now what?

 

[jamesbibb]

Awesome hotchkiss!


It has an intact brass percussion fuze. It's missing the base cup and sabot but it's a nice one!
Base cups are easy to pick up on eBay and fit on the bottom once you get it disarmed. Congrats!

 

[genlee]

Yes disarming it is the next course of action, I am going to take it to a fella in Gettysburg and he will hook me up with a fella who disarms these types of shells. Right now it is soaking in water so I can clean it up some more before taking it to him. I did look for the base and any part of the Sabot, which I think Tony found that or rather what was left of it. The base should be some where in the area.


John

 

[genlee]

sorry for double thread


John

 

[smokeythecat]

Boy, if I were you I'd pay somebody to pick it up. Remember, gunpowder over times degrades in nitro glycerin (my dad taught me this, he was in the engineers in WWII). As in wiggle-boom!

 

[jewelerguy]

cool find but I sure hope it doesn't go BOOM

 

[CSA2K]

OUT-FREAKING-STANDING!!

Congrats!

 

[ynpto804]

Very nice shell

 

[The Rebel]

Nice find but real dangerous. Keep it in the water and away from your house.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[Mach1Pilot]

No doubt that was worth the effort of dealing with the roots! Congrats on an awesome find!

 

[mark1427]

I like it good job and good luck on defusing it.

 

[genlee]

It is ok folks I was a Army Engineer and I was a demolition specialist. So I am aware of the danger and have taken all precautions to protect the family and myself. I do thank you all for the concern. I am actually hoping to fins more shells. Though the ground is full of hot rocks and it makes it hard to get a good reading.

John

 

[DocBeav]

Nice find! Glad you have experience but please do be careful! I wouldn't mess with it anymore until AFTER it is disarmed/defused. You mentioned you were going to clean it up a bit before but you may wanna hold off on that, especially with the fuse still in it. I have extensive experience with explosives as well but I'd be very leery of messing with it too much.

Hell of a find though man! Like to have one of those too!

 

[diggervet]

great find!

 

[genlee]

So after doing some research I now see there were sever types of Hotchkiss rounds, and I am going to look for the base as it has to be in the fields we are hunting. Maybe I will find another round I mean the odds are pretty good, though I will be happy if I find frags or any other relics for that matter.


John

 

[Follows Camp Craig]

I just keep finding myself coming back to this post and looking at those images.
What an amazing find and all of the history behind it. A true conversation piece.

That's not fused, Its just the shipping plug, right?
I had no idea fused tips existed during that period.
Still makes my toes tingle though!

Thanks for sharing