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Boer War Era Shell

orcutteod

Well-Known Member
Picked up a Presentation shell from Capt Appleton to the Forester Order in Warrington England. Enclosed is a lot of info on Boer War volunteer Capt Appleton. I don't know much about this shell and assume its a British shell. It measures 6.7 inches in lenght. Anyhow I like pickups like this with a story to tell. Did some research and now realize it's indeed a British 2.5 inch or 7 ponder muzzle loading cannon. So that explains why no driving band on projectile but it is missing the rifling studs. [h=2]Item Description[/h] Original Item: Rudyard Kipling gave the name Screw Gun to the British Ordnance RML 2.5-Inch Mountain Gun in his famous poem Screw Guns, and the gun has been known thus ever since. The Ordnance RML 2.5-Inch Mountain Gun was made with the barrel in two parts so that it could be broken down into loads that could be carried by animal transport, usually mules but occasionally camels. The two sections of the gun were connected by a threaded, or screwed, joint.
RML stands for Rifled Muzzle Loading; that is, powder and projectile were loaded from the muzzle, while the rifling consisted of three spiral grooves. Studs on the exterior of the projectile fitted into the grooves to impart spin. Studded shells of a wide range of calibers were used by the Army and Navy of the U.K. and are a very significant stage in artillery development. Although the studs on our 2.5-inch screw gun shells are zinc, zinc had been replaced by copper in calibers used by the Royal Army and Royal Navy, and most surviving studded shells have copper studs.
The Ordnance 2.5-Inch Mountain Gun was made with the barrel in two parts so that it could be broken down into loads that could be carried by animal transport, usually mules but on occasion camels.
The two sections of the gun were connected by a threaded, or screwed, joint.


The Volunteer Service Company (1st South Lancashire Regiment) in South Africa During the Boer War, January, 1900-July, 1901


The Volunteer Service Company (1st South Lancashire Regiment) in South A...
 

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I looked at the shell and saw no evidence of stud locations.
The 2.5" mountain gun shell was studless and rotation was imparted by use of a gas check which engaged the rifling.
 
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The information was taken from the Mountain Gun section of Treatise on Ammunition 1902.
The only exception to the studless rule is the Starshell which is much longer, has parallel sides and no significant ogive.It has 4 studs round the base.
 

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Drawing of Shrapnel and Star projectiles from the Handbook for the 2.5-inch RML Steel (Jointed) Gun, 1888.


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That looks like a gascheck and was probably a later modification after 1902.
The ogive is more pronounced than in the Treatise 1902 picture.
 
The shell you show is a 2.5 inch, back ejecting shrapnel shell with the rear section and separate driving band/gas-check missing. The missing, rear part has two lugs which engage with the two slots and is pinned through to attach and the driving band/gas-check attached at the rear. This transmitted the torque from the driving band to the body of the shell. When the fuze fired the rear, missing part, was ejected by the shearing of the pin and the shot dispersed. The drawing shown by Snufkin shows this assembly but as it is two dimensional the construction is not so obvious and needs careful viewing.
 
Today I'm a bit confused by a details.
No elevation in the handbook so I can't be sure.
Gas-checks are pre-rifled or not ?
Same operation as 4.2in mortar (copper gas check rifled by launcher) or pre-rifled projectile ?
1.jpg2.jpg



Only elevation from Henri Belot Doc with prerifled gas check :
belot 2.5in.jpg
 
Could you please show a couple of pictures of the fuze in the nose of the shell, as it's not clear what the configuration is. Thanks, Depotman
 
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