Loose Brass Frame

[M. De Land]

No, the reason the confederates used brass is because of lack of iron from my understanding of the war time contingency's.

 

[nkbj]

Probably just depended upon what they melted down.
:idunno:

 

[M. De Land]

I read that the bronze smooth bore cannons were better than iron tubes and much preferred.
Smooth bore artillery accuracy is mighty impressive to the 400-500 yards I've seen it shot.
Iron ore comes mainly from the great lake states if I remember correctly and would have been unobtainable to the South but copper and zinc apparently more abundant to them.

 

[Artificer]

M.D.

Iron ore was available in the South. Virginia had been a major producer since Colonial times and other States went into production as the years went by, as this map shows: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/geology/iron.html

However, the Confederate government had to seriously prioritize "War Materials" during the WBTS. So much of the Iron went into producing Rifle Muskets, Locks and Barrels even for the Bronze Framed Revolvers, as well as other items.

So, since Iron was a high priority material. If something was normally made from steel, but could be made from Iron, they did so. If something could be made from Bronze (like Revolver frames) they did so to conserve Iron. If something was normally made from bronze they often made it from brass, except for gun/cannon barrels, of course. Even when they made things from Brass, they often had a higher content of copper in the copper to zinc ratio than normal, to save on zinc. For example, Confederate Sword belt hooks are rather easy to identify vs Federal ones because the Confederate Hooks have a definite "reddish" hue to them and are normally cast rather than made into wire. Many Confederate made Waist Belt Plates and Frames also show this "reddish hue." That way they saved on zinc for other uses.

For those interested in the difference between Brass and Bronze, the following is a good link: http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-brass-and-vs-bronze/

Now, Confederate prioritization of materials did not just include metals, but included all War Materials. Some examples are the Federals specified "Cashmere" wool for uniforms, which meant pure wool in the period, but Confederate Uniforms were often made of a wool and cotton and sometimes wool and linen blends.

Instead of making Cartridge Box slings and Rifle Slings entirely out of leather, they sometimes/often used woven linen/cotton straps and on rifle musket slings, used linen/cotton straps with small pieces of leather sewn on where the hooks went into holes for adjustment.

Gus

 

[robinsroost]

Crockett, I don't know about Davey hunting bears with a .36 caliber rifle, but the .36 is a legal caliber to hunt bears and deer in Tennessee. Keep yer powder dry.......robin :hmm:

 

[M. De Land]

Here's a good article Gus on Confederate War Materials: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/confederate-mines-raw-materials-of-war.15378/
Apparently there lack of transportation and industrialization to mine and smelt the iron ore was the real problem.

 

[M. De Land]

He points out near the end of the article that the iron ore production of Pennsylvania alone was greater than the combined Confederate iron production of the whole war.

 

[Artificer]

Yes, Pennsylvania had a lot of ore and coal and did not have enemy Armies threatening the mining and transportation, as was common in the Iron Ore areas of the South.

Virginia had lagged behind Tennessee in Iron Production just prior to the War, but that was changed during the War, as the following link demonstrates.

https://dmme.virginia.gov/dgmr/civilwar_iron.shtml

Gus