1-Inch Nordenfelt

[orcutteod]

Enclosed are pictures of an most unsual small cannon round with a brass jacket surrounding a steel projectile. Research reveals their are few surving examples of this late 1800's muti barrel Naval volley gun. And this shell is the only one I have seen. The person I got this round from also had just the projectile and I noticed how the brass jacket at the base was formed like a cup. Are these Nordenfelt shells hard to come by?

 

[hicky1300]

Very nice looking round orcutteod
Hard to tell without dimensions if it is a nordenfelt.
I think you should find penty of info on here if you try the search facility
as there is no headstamp then hard to narrow down the age & maker but because of this would go with it being pre 1900`s
As the primer is unstruck & is a percussion tyre that brings into question if it is a naval one as I thought the naval ones were electric primers - but that might be post 1900 ones? another issue is if it is inert? Not up to speed on USA laws regarding this issue but here in the UK this - by appearance - would be deemed live!

 

[TonyE]

It is a 1 inch Nordenfelt as described. It is a nice round, somewhat scarce but hardly rare and there are plenty of surviving examples. It is impossible to tell from the photograph which Mark it is.

Also, the Nordenfelt was not a volley gun. Each barrel fired individually as the firing lever was pulled. A volley gun does what the name suggests, it fires a volley of all barrels at once.

The Nordenfelt was percussion fired, there were no electrically fired Nordenfelt rounds. You are confusing it with the 1 inch Aiming Rifle which used the same case as the Nordenfelt but had a lead projectile and was usually electrically fired in Naval service. The army used both electrically fired (coast guns) and percussion fired versions.

Regards
TonyE

 

[US-Subs]

I have not checked recently to see if anything has changed, but last I knew, unless State law where you lived was more stringent, by Federal law propellant/live cartridge was not an issue, regardless of size. For a projectile you were allowed no more than a quarter ounce (7 grams) of explosive or incendiary material - medium/small 20mm. Slightly more lenient than our Commonwealth friends.

 

[2pounder]

Nice round, the fact the case is undated may help age it but unlike larger cases they were normally date and maker stamped I have one as early as 1883 marked on it. There is a clue in the curvature or ogive of the projectile, later ones were more pointed and had an S stamped in the base. Quite a bit of info on here on the subject.

 

[highlandotter]

In their advertising literature, Nordenfelt stressed volley fire as an important feature of their guns. In fact, they mentioned you could fire a single barrel for ranging shots etc. In the sequential firing of the row of say 10 barrels, the time interval between shots is so small, you get the same effect as 10 soldiers pulling the trigger on the command of fire, so you get a volley. To get a barrels fired at the same instant makes for more complicated design and more problems in use.Bye the way, Nordenfelt probably is the father of small caliber armor piercing projectiles in that in the 1", he had a hard steel projectile surrounded by a brass jacket moving over 2,000 ft/sec which would pierce 2" iron at 300 yards.

 

[orcutteod]

A bit more info on the shell the brass jacketed projectile dia measues .9.90 the width of the rim is 1.22 and the overall lenght is 5.2 inches. And the primer pocket dia is .315, and I'm assuming smokeless powder was used? A past post by frizzen I think best describes what I have with the three round stake marks on the case.

To further complicate it, some of the early Nordenfelt cases were completely blank, not even the N. Other identifying aspects of Nordenfelt ammunition are round stake marks (as if done with a punch) on the case to crimp onto the projectile (usually three) and a milled ring around the primer.​

 

[TonyE]

All the Nordenfelt rounds were black powder loaded, starting with the Mark I Service in 1878 through to the Mark I Steel in 1891. (BTW, the "S" on the base of the projectile indicates steel rather than iron as in previous marks.)

The original acquisition by the Navy of the 1" Nordenfelt was very political as the Director of Artillery felt that it was his job to test and order these weapons for the Navy, not the Director of Naval Ordnance who looked after the "big" guns.

I am sure that your round is American made, possibly by the Union Metallic Company, as the Royal Navy ordered half a million rounds of Mark I from the USA. That would also explain the lack of headstamp and the American "look" of the primer.

As you say, British made 1" rounds normally had the manufacturer (RL), date and mark number in the headstamp, though there was no "N" for the Navy.

Regards
TonyE

 

[MiguelMaxim]

From some Turkish museums Estambul and Gallipoli.