elongated smoothbore bullets

[lyuv]

The "normal" sphere shaped bullets have a low cross density and high air drag, which greatly effects range and accuracy.

Are there ant bullets (for smoothbore) that are NOT a sphere?

My first thought is of an arrow shape (fletchette). Naturaly, the tail should give the bullet some spin.

Did anyone try or hear of something like this?

 

[Many Klatch]

There is swan shot. Small buckshot sized lead ball with an elongated tail. They generally go through the target sideways.

The British Army supposedly experimented with lead balls with a tail, while trying to accurize the Brown Bess. They bored a small hole in a .72 ball and put a piece of string into the hole and anchored it with a small wedge of wood.

A friend of mine experimented with this set up. He said that it seemed to make a difference in the horizontal wandering of the ball, but not the vertical stringing. He shot into a couple of inches of Oak and found that there was string hanging out of the bullet holes. So there might be something to it.

I think that an elongated ball would just tumble and hit like a buzz saw somewhere downrange, but not on your target.

Many Klatch

 

[Blizzard of '93]

there has been a post about a slug from a Lyman mold that is hollow-base and wasp-waist style, maybe it will turn up again.

 

[DanChamberlain]

I would think a "Badmitton" birdy style of projectile might fly. But in the end, I'd bet it wouldn't make enough difference to extend the range of a smoothbore appreciably.

Dan

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Strictly speaking, "swan shot" was a size of shot, around modern "T"/.20", IIRC, and was usually cast like the other larger sizes of shot (designated by the supposed use - beaver, goose, buck, etc.). Smaller shot seems to have been designated by the #/ounce. The home-made shot with tails seems to be usually called "drip shot", at least nowadays, from how it is made.

Joel

 

[ResearchPress]

Are there any bullets (for smoothbore) that are NOT a sphere?

The French Nessler bullet was used in smooth-bores in the Crimean War (1856-56). It was also copied and used by the Sardinians and Russians.

The Nessler bullet is like a short smooth sided round nosed Minie, however the base cavity included a projecting cone like point.

They were reportedly superior to the spherical bullet. Russian trials noted in "The War Correspondent" (journal of the Crimean War Research Socity) reported hit percentages of 44% on company sized targets at 350 meters and 20% at 500 meters. For the spherical bullet only 3 to 4% hits at more than 300 metres and no useful accuracy or power beyond 400 metres is noted.

Contemporary testing suggests that some of the results may have been over-stated.

There is also some reference to testing of a (presumed) similar design bullet by W.B. Chace in the US. The range when the Chace bullet was fired from a musket and when compared to a round-ball cartridge from the same musket was increased by a third. See Joe Bilby's "Civil War Firearms".

The Nessler bullet was not used in Britain and despite some testing in the US was not adopted.

David

 

[Many Klatch]

I was lucky to find a soapstone gang mold for "swan shot" It can cast about 10 at a time. We have talked about dropping lead into water here on the forum, to make "swan shot" but I have never had any luck with it.

Many Klatch

 

[Wes/Tex]

The problem with pouring shot is that unless it's fluxed with arsenic (Prince Rupert shot), it wants to run out in long spaghetti-like runs. The odd shaped shot some folks make is, if I understand it correctly, is made by ouring the lead very slowly into the collander to prevent it running through in runs.

As for elongated slugs for smoothbored guns, the only thing I've seen is an old iron mold that cast 4 different sized balls (the largest was .68) and a wadcutter styled slug that is .68 in diameter and .75 long. It would be a brutal slug if fired in volley!

 

[Itegorm]

Here are some of my thoughts on the above topics.
1. Swan shot a.k.a. Drip shot... I make alot of this stuff and do quite a bit of hunting with it. Drip shot is probably a better term for it than swan shot as we have historical reference to swan shot being a specific size (usually between modern T and #4 Buck). That being said swan shot seems to have become one of those terms that we use in our day and age to discribe the stuff, kind of like the terms frizzen instead of battery or steel, ramrod instead of wipping or scouring stick (although I have seen one refernce from the 18th cent that call a ramrod a ramrod). The stuff seems to work pretty well if you are willing to play with it to find a good load, I have found that although much of it tends to "buzz saw" through the air some of it lays down nicely and will keep up its energy for a good distance. Additionally I have had a good load of drip shot (swan shot...whatever) literaly peel squirrels (we have some monster size ones around here) out of trees where a load of standard round shot would have allowed them to hang tight a bit longer, I think it has something to do with the shot tubbling a bit in flight.
2. Other than spherical projectiles from a smoothbore. There are some "bullets" recovered from the Phips shipwreck (late 17th century) that were just shy of bore size and about double the bore length. They were just basiclly cylinder shaped and likely would have been a pretty wicked projectile (I've got a mould blank kicking around that I really would like to bore out and make a few to see how they work). Additionally I remember seeing a couple of references to loads pulled from captured guns during the F&I and Rev War that had all sorts of un-spherical projectiles (one load was something along the lines of a couple of balls, some buckshot and a piece of iron a couple of inches long... That just doesn't sound like something fun to shoot).