Ridgeway Civil War Research Center, A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War
	Civil War Artillery
	by Harry Ridgeway

Research Center: Artillery5173-Read

Rifled artillery projectile, Read design, Confederate manufacture, bursting shell, pattern with bourrelet rings, wrought iron sabot, percussion fuze, rifled 32 pounder gun, 6.4in. Projectile was Confederate manufactured following the invention of John Read , the sabot system utilized was a wrought iron ring. These 32 pound short projectiles were intended to beused in the old 32 pounders that had been converted to rifle . This pattern utilized two bourrelet rings, as a labor savingdevice, only the rings had to be accurately machined, the rest could be leftrough. The nose is relatively pointed, and the width of the bourrelet rings varies considerably, presumably this is operator variance in the finishing process. The wrought iron sabot was cast much thinner on these large caliber patterns, the rifling is not precast into this sabot, and the relatively weak sabot is often sheared. The base is raised and milled to a bevel leaving a depressed ring between the base and the sabot.. Fuze employed was Archer percussion fuze, Jones pg. 55. Projectile measures: diameter 6.36in., length 9.5in., weight 43lbs. Research Center: Artillery5173-Read, Ref: Bell Heavy Ordnance, pg. 348. Details click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery5173-Read.html.

A1568... Projectile measures: diameter 6.36in., length 9.5in.(sabot sheared), weight not determined. Fired sabot is sheared. Percussion fuze intact. Metal is solid with light to moderate pitting. Projectile is disarmed, drill hole through the side. Recovered: Richmond, Virginia campaign.

This is the "Ridgeway Civil War Research Center", a research tool for educational purposes only, and is provided at no cost to the reader. Some of the relics listed are retained in the author's collection, most reside in other collections and are not owned by the author. None of the items listed in this section are for sale, please refer to relicman.com sales listings for items offered for sale. This is a work in progress, I list items as I get to them, there are many patterns that are not listed yet, this list will be regularly updated as I get pictures and descriptions for more items. I will also correct mistakes, so if you see any please tell me. All items listed are believed to be authentic to the Civil War or as otherwise described. This information is available for research purposes, pictures may be used by permission only.
All excavated artifacts have been recovered from private property with owner's permission.
All projectiles listed have been disarmed.

Most information on this page is from:
Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War, 1993 Edition. by Thomas S. Dickey and Peter C. George.
Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance, A Guide to Large Artillery Prjectiles, Torpedoes, and Mines, by Jack Bell.
Artillery Fuses of the Civil War, by Charles H. Jones.
Pictures are by the author, unless otherwise indicated.

Ridgeway Civil War Research Center, A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War. Artillery Research center, artillery, click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery0000-Index.html. Research center, artillery, click: http://relicman.com/artillery/Artillery0000-Index.html.

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