"ANTI ARMOR AMMO "???

[Puffer]

http://www.heritagedaily.com/2012/10/mo ... mary-rose/
might  thi be "anti armor" ammo ?

[Uncle Russ]

My interpretation of the link is pretty much the same as Puffer's.
If not directly intended as a "anti-armored" ball, it seems it would have served the purpose quite well.

I recall reading somewhere that one of the famous Elephant Hunters of that forgone era had special "round-balls" made up with an iron or steel Pyramid shaped object covered with pure lead into a round ball, and shot from a 8 bore, if memory serves me right
Bigsmoke may know more of this than myself, since he's the really big-bore fan.
I do know that wood was once used, and even the Whitworth had a similar configuration for their long range rifle...and the entire theory behind all this experimentation was simply to increase penetration, so why not a Cannon Ball too?

Interesting link, thanks Puff.

Uncle Russ...

[Gordon H.Kemp]

Hey Russ I would have to think along the same line. When I first saw them (the cannon balls) what came to mind was the old Bazooka AP rounds where the entire missle falls away and only the sshaped charge cut through the armor spraying white hot hunks of the armor around the interior of the vehicle . Could it be the metal cube acted like the shape charge and kept going after the lead stopped ??

[Stormrider51]

Extremely interesting!  I'd like to see several examples of the iron inclusions.  Were they all shaped the same?  If so, it means that not only were they placed into the mold as a separate step in the casting process but they were made and shaped specifically for that purpose.  This would be considerable extra work just to cast a cannon ball.  Even if the iron appears to be random shaped chunks tossed in the mold I can only think of three possible reasons for doing so right off the top of my head:

1.  Iron is lighter than lead so a ball with an iron inclusion would fly faster and further using the same powder charge.
2.  Iron may have been easier to come by/less expensive than lead.
3.  As has already been suggested, they were trying for deeper penetration which links back to possibility #1.

This one will bear watching.

Storm

[Fletcher]

Wow - after all this time I have known of the Mary Rose for the collection of Yew bows and Poplar arrows found on board.

I did not realize that the ship had guns aboard!  Now I am interested to experiment with lead casting.  I wonder how I could

suspend an iron ball or hexagon or octagon shaped iron object so the lead covered ball would be symmetrical and still fly true.

Then I wonder about the ballistics and the penetration.  They might just tear the hell out of hanging steel targets.

I wonder how much trouble I could get into with the club holding the Rondy  

[Puffer]

Extremely interesting!  I'd like to see several examples of the iron inclusions.  Were they all shaped the same?  If so, it means that not only were they placed into the mold as a separate step in the casting process but they were made and shaped specifically for that purpose.  This would be considerable extra work just to cast a cannon ball.  Even if the iron appears to be random shaped chunks tossed in the mold I can only think of three possible reasons for doing so right off the top of my head:

1.  Iron is lighter than lead so a ball with an iron inclusion would fly faster and further using the same powder charge.
2.  Iron may have been easier to come by/less expensive than lead.
3.  As has already been suggested, they were trying for deeper penetration which links back to possibility #1.

This one will bear watching.

Storm

Hee Haw !

[Stormrider51]

Did I offend someone?

[Puffer]

Extremely interesting!  I'd like to see several examples of the iron inclusions.  Were they all shaped the same?  If so, it means that not only were they placed into the mold as a separate step in the casting process but they were made and shaped specifically for that purpose.  This would be considerable extra work just to cast a cannon ball.  Even if the iron appears to be random shaped chunks tossed in the mold I can only think of three possible reasons for doing so right off the top of my head:

1.  Iron is lighter than lead so a ball with an iron inclusion would fly faster and further using the same powder charge.
2.  Iron may have been easier to come by/less expensive than lead.
3.  As has already been suggested, they were trying for deeper penetration which links back to possibility #1.

NOT ME !!!!

This one will bear watching.

Storm

Hee Haw !

[Bigsmoke]

Bigsmoke may know more of this than myself, since he's the really big-bore fan.

Nope, I am not into carriage mounted cannons, only ones that can be shot from the shoulder.

Sounds to me like a way to deliver shrapnel and possibly tear through some armor plating.

As has been said, this thread will bear watching.

John

[Fletcher]

Is it not true that the iron core would need to be symmetrical and placed carefully in the center?

I would think that would be necessary or the projectile would tumble badly.

Of course if it were close range and just 'flock shooting' it may not matter.