Confederate 3-Inch Bourreleted Read Shell
SOLD
Item: Confederate 3-Inch Bourreleted Read Shell
Construction: Cast iron with copper fuze adaptor and copper ring sabot.
Fuzing: Paper time fuze.
Approximate size: Weight: 7.6 pounds. Diameter: 2.94 inches. Length: 7-1/2 inches.
Condition: Very good, fired, excavated. The iron body of the shell is mostly smooth with mild pitting primarily in the lower half on one side. A visible mold seam is present and runs the length of the shell. The copper fuze adaptor is present with minor denting, likely a result from impact. The copper sabot is present with seven lands and grooves indicating that it was fired from a captured US 3-inch ordnance rifle. The sabot has a darkened copper patina and is complete. A visible lathe dimple is present on the bottom of the base. The shell has been deactivated and treated with electrolysis and paraffin so as to preserve the iron and is ready for display. There are no repairs.
Recovered: Benevola, MD area,
Comments: According to Peter George, co-author of "Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War", the Confederates preferred using the captured US 3-inch ordnance rifle primarily due to their quality of construction and accuracy, not to mention that they had captured a Yankee gun!
In his book he writes:
"Above all other reasons… the CS cannoneers knew the yankee-made 3” Ordnance Rifle, being made of wrought-iron instead of cast-iron, was far less likely to burst during firing than the CS-made rifled cannons (all of which were cast iron – or brass – because the Rebs weren’t industrially capable of making wrought-iron cannons). There is no record of even a single 3” Ordnance Rifle bursting in combat. (Compare that with the Parrott Rifle’s terrible record.)"
"Next-most-important, it had a reputation for being highly accurate. Yankee gunners who used it claimed they could put three shells into a bushel-basket at the range of a half-mile. That wasn’t stretching the truth by much. Decades ago in Georgia, I dug five fired dud 3” Hotchkiss shells in a 20-foot circle. (Remember, the civil war artillery “average” was 1 out of 4 fired failed to explode… which means 20 Hotchkiss shells were fired at that 20-foot circle, five being duds, all 5 landing within it.)"
This Read shell was acquired directly from the digger and it will be an excellent addition to any excavated Civil War artillery, battlefield, or general relic collection.
- Product Code:
- PC11514
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