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Steel Tube with brass ends 5.5" x 1" BP R /I\ L Half Sectioned

roller63

roller63

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Steel Tube with brass ends 5.5" x 1" BP R /I\ L
Half sectioned with simulated propellant.
Can anyone help identify this steel tube with brass ends ? It's a half-sectioned item, painted black, with simulated propellant inside. I measures 5.5" long by 1" wide. It has brass ends closed internally with card dics. Both brass ends are the same and are marked :- R /I\ L BP and one very small indistinct makers mark ? My educated guess is that it's British, quite old and designed to burn through from one end to the other ?
Apologies for the poor phone camera photos. Item belongs to a friend.

IMG_20211203_104537.jpgIMG_20211203_104710.jpgIMG_20211203_104510.jpgIMG_20211203_104452.jpg
 
kiwieod said:
it dosent appear to have any flash hole,primer hole,so how would the "powder"be ignited?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply, both ends have holes in them, but no sign of a percussion cap or similar, just card discs internally. Hope that helps.
 
BP,probably black powder.could be a propelling charge from a toffee apple mortar,9in or 12in something like that
 
What you have there is the burster charge for a 12 Pr Rifle Breech loader (Armstrong) gun, Segment shell. If you wish drawing of the shell and burst container please contact me direct.
 
hampshireman said:
What you have there is the burster charge for a 12 Pr Rifle Breech loader (Armstrong) gun, Segment shell. If you wish drawing of the shell and burst container please contact me direct.
Click to expand...

That's excellent, thank you ! I will send you a pm regarding this. Would this be from the Victorian period ?
 
There's a sectional diagram in the 1877 version of the Treatise on Ammunition.

It's not brilliant resolution, but it's better than nothing I guess.

Right a screen capture first, then the actual image from the PDF file.


12 pr. Breech Loading Armstrong Gun Segment Projectile - 1.jpg12 pr. Breech Loading Armstrong Gun Segment Projectile - 2.jpg


Some very strange scanning was used to make the file as the page background image is huge (3476×5594), but the sectional diagram of the projectile is tiny in comparison (484×610)?
 
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