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can we get some clarification on the smallest size of shells

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can we get some clarification on the smallest size of shells
Post by captinjoehenry   » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:08 pm

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i am wondering because if i recall correctly the 30 pounders the charisians use have a shell with only 1 pound of gunpowder in it and somehow the CoGA field pieces which are 12 pounders have shells to so what is their filling a 1/4 pound of gunpowder? is that even enough to burst the iron shell around it?
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Re: can we get some clarification on the smallest size of sh
Post by MTO   » Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:42 pm

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captinjoehenry wrote:i am wondering because if i recall correctly the 30 pounders the charisians use have a shell with only 1 pound of gunpowder in it and somehow the CoGA field pieces which are 12 pounders have shells to so what is their filling a 1/4 pound of gunpowder? is that even enough to burst the iron shell around it?


The way I understand it, its called a 30-pounder because if you make the largest possible solid cannon-ball for the cannon, *that* weighs 30 pounds. A shell doesn't need to weigh 30 pounds to be fired from the 30-pounder. It could be made of lighter materials than cast iron, be hollow, etc. I guess you could also make a large shell that weighs more than 30 pounds. As long as it matches the calibre of the cannon... 'course, if you try to fire too heavy a shell, you could just blow the cannon...

So the CoGA are probably using more than a 1/4 pound of powder in their shells.
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Re: can we get some clarification on the smallest size of sh
Post by SHV   » Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:05 pm

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don't know if this is helpful but:

"British Cannonball Sizes'

http://arc.id.au/Cannonballs.html

Steve
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Re: can we get some clarification on the smallest size of sh
Post by SWM   » Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:32 pm

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MTO wrote:
captinjoehenry wrote:i am wondering because if i recall correctly the 30 pounders the charisians use have a shell with only 1 pound of gunpowder in it and somehow the CoGA field pieces which are 12 pounders have shells to so what is their filling a 1/4 pound of gunpowder? is that even enough to burst the iron shell around it?


The way I understand it, its called a 30-pounder because if you make the largest possible solid cannon-ball for the cannon, *that* weighs 30 pounds. A shell doesn't need to weigh 30 pounds to be fired from the 30-pounder. It could be made of lighter materials than cast iron, be hollow, etc. I guess you could also make a large shell that weighs more than 30 pounds. As long as it matches the calibre of the cannon... 'course, if you try to fire too heavy a shell, you could just blow the cannon...

So the CoGA are probably using more than a 1/4 pound of powder in their shells.

In fact, if I recall correctly, the shells which are fired from 30 pound guns weigh 12 pounds. The CoGA does not have 12 pounder shells--they have 30 pounder shells which weigh 12 pounds and contain 1 pound of powder, similar to the Charis shells.
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Re: can we get some clarification on the smallest size of sh
Post by MWadwell   » Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:54 am

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captinjoehenry wrote:i am wondering because if i recall correctly the 30 pounders the charisians use have a shell with only 1 pound of gunpowder in it and somehow the CoGA field pieces which are 12 pounders have shells to so what is their filling a 1/4 pound of gunpowder? is that even enough to burst the iron shell around it?



In real life, after the introduction of rifled cannons, a LOT of existing british 68 pounders were re-used as 80 pound rifled muzzle loaded (RML) cannon, and they used a 7.75 pound bursting charge.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68-pounder_gun#Conversion_to_rifled_muzzle_loader and http://www.gwpda.org/naval/brassey/b1894010.htm
.

Later,
Matt
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Re: can we get some clarification on the smallest size of sh
Post by lyonheart   » Fri Jul 17, 2015 1:53 pm

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Hi SWM,

IIRC, the 30 pounder carried less than 2 pounds of gunpowder in its hollowed out core, and weighed around 18 pounds, with rather different ballistics and range due to its lower mass.

The 12 pounder field pieces ape the 1850's 'Napoleon', and had a ~10 pound 'shot' with a rather small gunpowder charge, but the iron 'shell' is rather thin and designed to break up when the burning time fuze detonated the gunpowder.

Hope this helps,

L


SWM wrote:
MTO wrote:*quote="captinjoehenry"*i am wondering because if i recall correctly the 30 pounders the charisians use have a shell with only 1 pound of gunpowder in it and somehow the CoGA field pieces which are 12 pounders have shells to so what is their filling a 1/4 pound of gunpowder? is that even enough to burst the iron shell around it?*quote*

The way I understand it, its called a 30-pounder because if you make the largest possible solid cannon-ball for the cannon, *that* weighs 30 pounds. A shell doesn't need to weigh 30 pounds to be fired from the 30-pounder. It could be made of lighter materials than cast iron, be hollow, etc. I guess you could also make a large shell that weighs more than 30 pounds. As long as it matches the calibre of the cannon... 'course, if you try to fire too heavy a shell, you could just blow the cannon...

So the CoGA are probably using more than a 1/4 pound of powder in their shells.

In fact, if I recall correctly, the shells which are fired from 30 pound guns weigh 12 pounds. The CoGA does not have 12 pounder shells--they have 30 pounder shells which weigh 12 pounds and contain 1 pound of powder, similar to the Charis shells.
Any snippet or post from RFC is good if not great!
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