Also known as: shell, common shell.
| Class | Explosive projectile |
|---|---|
| Construction | Hollow iron body, bursting charge, and a fuze |
| Effect | Fragments of the shell body on bursting |
| Forms | Spherical (smoothbore) and elongated (rifled) |
Construction and effect
An explosive shell is a hollow cast-iron projectile filled with a black-powder bursting charge and closed with a fuze. When the fuze fires the charge, the shell body ruptures into fragments that were the round's principal effect against troops, materiel, and light works.
Shells were made both as spheres for smoothbore guns and howitzers and as elongated projectiles for rifled guns. The wall thickness, cavity form, fuze seat, and, on rifled shells, the sabot or driving band are the features by which surviving shells are identified and attributed.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- Melton, Jack W., Jr. Civil War Artillery Projectiles: The Half Shell Book. Blue Ridge, GA: Historical Publications LLC, 2018.
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Benton, James G. A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery. 2nd ed. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.