July 9th Shell Frag and 2 What Is Its

[Davers]

I know the diamond shape piece is a 3/4 inch frag likely from a Ball 'but not positive the type'.

The rounded lead piece is a mystery to me could be part of a fuse maybe or modern junk.

The last and largest iron piece has me baffled it was found not far from the diamond shape frag and
where I dug a Boreman 12 lb cannon ball 'top, W/ Fuse hole' last year.

I've check M&M book and looked at lots of images & Cut-away's of shell types but can't find a perfect match.
Thought at first it was part of a Hotchkiss Shell Type but as I said I can't find an exact match.

A Parrot? maybe? It is around 2 3/4 inches in Diameter.

Any help would be appreciated.


May have to contact The Cannon Ball Guy.

 

[relic nut]

Can't help with ID, but I'm glad to see you saving the history. I will be watching for an ID. Thanks for sharing. [emoji106]

HH, RN

 

[Davers]

Can't help with ID, but I'm glad to see you saving the history. I will be watching for an ID. Thanks for sharing. [emoji106]

HH, RN

Thanks .
It was a hurried post with my Wife typing , so I just did some editing.

That Big piece is unusual IMO , It's heavy as Heck but I'm not sure if the 'Tennis Ball' size protrusion would be the top/bottom or should be the inside of the "Hope Full" Shell Piece.

Like I said , I think ill 'Flash the Cannon Ball Guy Symbol into the Sky' Like Batman Lol.

I been wanting to know for sure since I dug it Sunday.
GD
Davers/ Davey

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Responding to your "signal."

The diamond-shaped fragment, being rounded on one side and flat on the other, is definitely from a Confederate 12-pounder "Polygonal Cavity, Type Two" explosive cannonball. See the photo of a sawed-in-half specimen, below. Its powder-cavity was cast in a geometric shape, which caused it to burst into 12 eaqual-sized diamond shaped antipersonnel fragments. The "diamond" version is considerably more scarce than the "pentagonal" version.

The roughly U-shaped lead object closely resembles the "horseshoe insert" from the underside of a civil war Bormann timefuze. BUT, the horseshoe insert did not have a raised ridge running along the center of one side.

The iron object with a large rounded dome on one side is the exploded base of a scarce Confederate 2.9-inch artillery shell called a Read-Blakely. It had a copper sabot which was made of very impure copper, resulting in the sabot's external ring almost always shattering to bits upon firing. You can see a little bit of the green copper patina on the remaining portion of the sabot under the dirt/rust concretion.

The other photo below shows a fired CS 2.9-inch Read-Blakely shell's base whose copper sabot is almost entirely missing.

 

[Davers]

THANKS SO MUCH!. TheCannonBallguy.

2 Words you used that I love are Confederate & Scarce.

I have dug a few Polygonal pieces in the past, (not at this site) but I do admire the Diamond shape.

I scraped as much of the rust off the Bid Bottom but did not want to pry under the 'protrusion' a good 'Cooking' and it will look almost like the piece you got pictured.

Def, one I don't see that often.

Also thought the lead piece "May" be from a Fuse as it was deeper than most of the fired bullets I have found there in the past few years. + on a nearby hillside I dug smaller frags, & Lead pieces of case Shot.

It makes me want to go back ASAP, but it can wait. + I need to get a permission for a House Site on a Few Acres in the Middle of this mostly developed area.

Hope I can find my 1st complete Shell , RR tracks run near the place Soooo, lot's of Iron.

Again I truly thank you for the 'Wonderful' Info.

I looked at hundreds of pictures if I would have seen the 'bottom' one you posted ..I would have thought "BINGO".

Now to learn more about these & other Artillery .
Have a Great weekend CBG.

P.S. Thanks for the quick reply , & if you do Civil War shows , let me know if you will be at Our Marietta Ga Show. Put on by the NGRHA.
Davers/ Davey

 

[relic nut]

Glad you got the ID Davers. What a great asset we have here with the Cannon ball guy!
Go back and get some more.

HH, RN

 

[Davers]

Glad you got the ID Davers. What a great asset we have here with the Cannon ball guy!
Go back and get some more.

HH, RN

You got that right , Mr CBG Is a great help with much experience.

As I stated I looked through pages of images / the Artillery Supplement in my M&M bullet book .
& Got no match.

I don't have an 'Artillery' Book cause I have never dug a shell , just Frags & sabot pieces. ; Ill take those anytime.

He even pointed out that a Bullet in one of my (rare) lol pictures was modern Black Powder bullet .
As I originally thought it was but a Long Time Digger who has Dug almost everything; (told me it was a carved Bullet).

I'm going back for sure, but it only took 7 hours to find the lead & shell pieces last Sunday, along with 15 SG Hulls that I missed in the past , so not for lack of trying.

Like you & I say if we get just 1 Civil War piece in a hunt it's worth it.
GL and Thanks for the Comments.

 

[alabama11]

Great work Davers. Where there is one shell frag more will come. Wondering how big the burst was. A WW2 shell of that size I was told by ordanace people was 60 yards. I worked in Range areas so there were duds ect. Gota keep eyes open.��

 

[Davers]

Great work Davers. Where there is one shell frag more will come. Wondering how big the burst was. A WW2 shell of that size I was told by ordanace people was 60 yards. I worked in Range areas so there were duds ect. Gota keep eyes open.��

Thanks buddy.

Yea I found 2 more smaller frags last week & hope to find more tomorrow ' if I go to that site' lower humidity will help.
gl to you my friend.
C.D.