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British Shrapnel Ball Identification
- Thread starter khanmak
- Start date
Mark,
I can't find the reference at the moment but I recollect the most common size for British lead-antimony shot was from 1/2-inch sieve.
The following is interesting regarding the production of leads balls/shot (Bristol used to have the oldest shot tower in Britain, built in 1782 but alas demolished in 1968):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qybStWdYcs
Tom.
I can't find the reference at the moment but I recollect the most common size for British lead-antimony shot was from 1/2-inch sieve.
The following is interesting regarding the production of leads balls/shot (Bristol used to have the oldest shot tower in Britain, built in 1782 but alas demolished in 1968):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qybStWdYcs
Tom.
As Tom said , they're about 1/2" on average . Strangely enough , I have the world's supply somewhere in my garage . One of the dealers from Belgium left them with me about 20 years ago & never wanted them back . I would think there's about 100Lbs of them in a sack . If any members want any & are down my way , please feel free to pop in & pick a few up .
Do you know if the produced shrapnel balls this way?
All I have seen until now where cast in a mould I think.
Alpini, I have read in one of the period engineering magazines (I think either The Engineer or the American Machinist) a passing comment that the shot tower method was used for shrapnel balls. Otherwise there is circumstantial evidence regarding the Bristol shot tower - it was owned for many years by the Sheldon, Bush and Patent Shot Co. Ltd. In WWI their works address was the Shot and Shrapnel Factory, Redcliffe Hill, Bristol, where they made "Bullet rod, shrapnel and solder". It would have been perhaps odd to have a shot tower and not use it for making shrapnel balls, and 12-13mm balls (1/2 inch) will form without braking up if the process conditions of melt temperature, height of drop and water catchment cooling are right.
Certainly balls were also moulded. British weekly expenditure of Shrapnel shell of all natures was rarely less than 50,000; and during the lead ups to major offensives was often in excess of 1million (source - Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire 1914-20). No way could the combined output of the few traditional shot manufacturers have had the capacity to satisfy the demands from their shot towers, so moulding was probably the only alternative method for many other lead workers.
Edit: as for Shrapnel ball size, the attached page from "Shrapnel Shell Manufacture", Industrial Press, NY, 1915 describes the balls as approx. half inch diameter and 167 grain weight. These were for the American 3-inch shells, and were no doubt used in US manufactured 18 pdr shells made for the British Government.
Tom.
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In the absence of a size reference for British Shrapnel balls, the quantity per pound is sufficient to define precisely the diameter. For:
3 and 18 pdr shell, 41 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.267 cm ( .499 inch)
60 pdr shell, 35 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.33 cm (.524 inch)
6-inch shell, 14 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.81 cm ( .713 inch)
Doing the sums first for 13 and 18 pdr shell:
The balls are Mixed Metal, 7 parts lead to 1 part antimony. Density of lead is 11.34 g/cc and of antimony is 6.7 g/cc, so density of Mixed Metal is 10.44 g/cc.
41 balls per lb is 90.2/kg, so mass of 1 ball is 1/90.2 = 0.0111 kg = 11.1 g.
Therefore volume of 1 ball is mass/density = 11.1/10.44 = 1.06 cc
For a sphere of radius r, volume = 4/3 x Pi x r^3
Implies r = cube root {1.06x3 / 4xPi} = cube root 0.254 = 0.633 cm
Therefore ball diameter = 1.267 cm.
Repeating for 60 pdr shell, 35 balls per pound or 77 per kg,
Mass =13g, vol = 1.24 cc
r = cube root 0.297 = 0.667 cm; d = 1.33 cm.
And for 6-in shell, 14 balls per pound or 30.8 per kg,
Mass = 32.5g, vol = 3.113 cc
R = cube root 0.743 = 0.906; d = 1.81 cm.
Tom.
3 and 18 pdr shell, 41 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.267 cm ( .499 inch)
60 pdr shell, 35 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.33 cm (.524 inch)
6-inch shell, 14 balls per pound, ball diameter = 1.81 cm ( .713 inch)
Doing the sums first for 13 and 18 pdr shell:
The balls are Mixed Metal, 7 parts lead to 1 part antimony. Density of lead is 11.34 g/cc and of antimony is 6.7 g/cc, so density of Mixed Metal is 10.44 g/cc.
41 balls per lb is 90.2/kg, so mass of 1 ball is 1/90.2 = 0.0111 kg = 11.1 g.
Therefore volume of 1 ball is mass/density = 11.1/10.44 = 1.06 cc
For a sphere of radius r, volume = 4/3 x Pi x r^3
Implies r = cube root {1.06x3 / 4xPi} = cube root 0.254 = 0.633 cm
Therefore ball diameter = 1.267 cm.
Repeating for 60 pdr shell, 35 balls per pound or 77 per kg,
Mass =13g, vol = 1.24 cc
r = cube root 0.297 = 0.667 cm; d = 1.33 cm.
And for 6-in shell, 14 balls per pound or 30.8 per kg,
Mass = 32.5g, vol = 3.113 cc
R = cube root 0.743 = 0.906; d = 1.81 cm.
Tom.
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