Birdseye
BOCN Contributor
I was able to pick up some Hotchkiss material during my trip to Baltimore.
I bought a total of 5 complete rounds and two fuses. I will show the fuses in the ... well I guess the fuse forum would be best.
From left to right:
Winchester repeating arms co.: 1) Base fused HE, 2) Brass case shot
Frankford Arsenal: 3) Nose fused HE, 4) Tin case shot
UMC: 5) Tin case shot
Both of the FA and the Winchester caseshot have a two-piece casing. The head was a separate piece riveted on. These are earlier, presumably. To the best of my knowledge, FA only made 2-piece, tinned cases and tinned cases were only made by FA.
Also note the Ordnance acceptance marks on the rotating band and head of the base fused HE shell.
It is unclear when the brass case shot superseded the tin version or, if in fact, production ever really ended for the tin version. The examples that I have show both types with the older casing and I have an example of the tin case shot with the newer casing. OTOH, the production dates for the "older" casing are unknown and it is possible that the FA produced an older style case into the 1900's. Another frightening possibility is that projectiles are not accurately matched to their original casings. Since these are all unloaded, that is a real possibility.
I bought a total of 5 complete rounds and two fuses. I will show the fuses in the ... well I guess the fuse forum would be best.
From left to right:
Winchester repeating arms co.: 1) Base fused HE, 2) Brass case shot
Frankford Arsenal: 3) Nose fused HE, 4) Tin case shot
UMC: 5) Tin case shot
Both of the FA and the Winchester caseshot have a two-piece casing. The head was a separate piece riveted on. These are earlier, presumably. To the best of my knowledge, FA only made 2-piece, tinned cases and tinned cases were only made by FA.
Also note the Ordnance acceptance marks on the rotating band and head of the base fused HE shell.
It is unclear when the brass case shot superseded the tin version or, if in fact, production ever really ended for the tin version. The examples that I have show both types with the older casing and I have an example of the tin case shot with the newer casing. OTOH, the production dates for the "older" casing are unknown and it is possible that the FA produced an older style case into the 1900's. Another frightening possibility is that projectiles are not accurately matched to their original casings. Since these are all unloaded, that is a real possibility.
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