Confederate 3 Inch Read Shell
SOLD
Item: Confederate 3 Inch Read Shell
Construction: Cast iron with copper fuze plug/adaptor and copper ring sabot.
Approximate size: Weight: 6.4 pounds. Diameter: 2.94 inches. Length: 7 1/2 inches.
Condition: Very good, excavated. The shell is complete with copper fuze plug/adaptor and copper sabot. Its iron body, which once had moderate surface flaking, was stabilized with a cleaning and the addition of a light layer of clear coat. The fuze is in very good condition and underneath the thin surface discoloration is a pleasing brown patina. The sabot, with its overall pleasing brown patina, shows seven lands and grooves as a result of being fired from a captured US 3-inch ordnance rifle. A lathe dimple in the center of its base is visible. The shell has no repairs and has been deactivated.
Recovered: Spotsylvania Court House, VA. area.
Comments: This shell was acquired direct from the local Virginia digger. 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! Mr. George 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 Confederate artillery shell will be an excellent addition to any excavated Civil War artillery, battlefield, or general relic collection.
- Product Code:
- PC8609
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