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Iron Shot

K

kaskowiski

Well-Known Member
I have what I think is some kind of iron shot. It comes from a coastal defence site established in the 1880s. It measures 1 & 1/2 inches diameter and 1/2 pound in weight. I initially thought it was shrapnel but presume it is too big. It is heavily corroded and has no visible features markings etc. Can anyone enlighten me as to what I might have.

regards

KaskowiskiIMG_0526.jpg
 
Yes that's what I thought Ben2000 but all references I can find specify sub one inch diameter shot. I would have thought that 1.5 inch shot would be too big for anti personnel shrapnel.
 
Hi,
I have got a simiular one of these but is 1 & 1/4" and and weighs 130g,this one was found on a fairly modern A/T range

Tony

P5270034.jpg
 
Further searching on the web and have found examples of 1.5 inch grapeshot. It seems that larger iron shot was used in naval shells.
 
Have just had a look at ebay and it seems most if not all grape shot for sale is 1.5 inches diameter - Was this the most common size used in the American civil war. I cant find a reference to it being used in the NZ wars of the 1860s but the search continues.
 
smle2009 said:
Hi,
I have got a simiular one of these but is 1 & 1/4" and and weighs 130g,this one was found on a fairly modern A/T range

Tony

View attachment 53959
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we found quite a few steel balls roughly this size near where old tanks had been used as targets (removed long ago) on a range where no canister or other artillery was ever fired,we thought they may be ball bearings from one of the destroyed targets.....
 
Yes my first thought when it was uncovered was a ball from a bearing race. However the site was sealed by bitumen in 1899 (the site is a fenced military compound). Artillery was stored at the site from about 1907 to the 1930s including 6 inch Howitzers and probably some old 6pr Armstrong's but no tanks to my knowledge. I suspect the wheel bearings on the Howitzer carriage were pretty large. There was also likely a lot of large coastal defence gun hardware being landed at the site (jetty) before being hauled into position on the headland above. I have also discovered that grape shot and Shrapnel shells were used in the NZ wars of the 1860s so Im not discounting this function. Finally the ball appears to be iron rather than steel perhaps eliminating the bearing function.
 
I have recently acquired a couple of similar shot balls.
Case shot size would have been 38mm, they measure with corrosion crust 40mm.
Case shot used in NZ was the 7" and 40pr RBL Armstrong guns.
 
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