Red hot cannon balls - smokey trails

[sixgun_symphony]

I read that the old coastal forts would use fires to get the cannon balls red hot so as to start fires on enemy ships. The red hot cannon balls were said to make a smokey trail in the sky as they traveled out.

 Anyone here try this?   :?:  :-)  :?:

[Daveinthebush]

It is hard these days to get an enemy ship to let you do any testing of this nature.

[GGaskill]

The technical answer is a little more mundane.  Small bore shot hold their heat less effectively than large bore shot.  A 5.66 inch shot weighs 24 pounds while a 1 inch shot weighs only 2 ounces.  The smaller shot would lose most of its heat to the gun barrel before firing.

And as Dave implies, there are few wooden ships these days to use as targets.  (-:

[Cat Whisperer]

I read that the old coastal forts would use fires to get the cannon balls red hot so as to start fires on enemy ships. The red hot cannon balls were said to make a smokey trail in the sky as they traveled out.

 Anyone here try this?   :?:  :-)  :?:

Welcome to the forum, Sixgun!

The laws in Virginia are such that if you start a forrest fire YOU will pay for it's being extinguished.  So the price of experimentation is genuinely steep here.

I would think that one would have to be very careful about not ignighting the powder from the cannon ball.

Dave - in this day and age I'll bet you could get someone to volunteer!  There are crazy people doing all sorts of things.  How far does one have to look ?   :-D    :-D      :grin:

[guardsgunner]

CW
    There is quite a bit in Gibbon's manual on loading hot shot http://www.civilwarartillery.com/books/GIBBON.PDF  (240-242)

    The shot oven is stll at Fort Moulturie(sp?) in S.C.  A very neat place with alot of cannon .. Civil war to ww2

[sixgun_symphony]

CW
    There is quite a bit in Gibbon's manual on loading hot shot http://www.civilwarartillery.com/books/GIBBON.PDF  (240-242)

    The shot oven is stll at Fort Moulturie(sp?) in S.C.  A very neat place with alot of cannon .. Civil war to ww2

Thanks!

 This is the kind of information that I was looking for. I figure that it would be fun to just make smokey trails in the sky with the heated ball.

 Of course one will have to shoot into a body of water. A lake on some private land might suffice.

[kappullen]

Some of the guys at the American Artillery Association cast eyebolts in their
Mortar projectiles and tie ribbons to the shot.

That makes them easy to follow in flight,  find,  and identify and on the field.

That's not smoke but close.



I didn't get any mortar pics.  Next time!

Kap

[dominick]

I collect rare artillery books as a hobby.  One of the books I have titled GUNS   An Illustrated History Of Artillery,  printed 1971 states this: "Red-hot cannon balls were fired day and night during a siege, with the intention of setting the enemy's stores alight.  As in the illustration below, the shot was heated until cherry-red.  A powder charge was inserted and rammed down, followed by a wad of damp hay or clay.  The gun was aimed, the rounds dropped down the barrel with tongs and the gun fired immediately to avoid the heat setting off the charge prematurely."           A few things come to mind with this.  The wadding of anything damp is not by modern standands considered safe practice and "firing the gun immediately" IS firing the gun prematurely. Dom.

[Max Caliber]

Hot shot was solid iron shot and there was nothing to create a smoke. They could, however, sometimes be seen glowing when fired at night. Most projectiles with burning fuses will leave a smokey trail.  Mortar shells, which were fired in a high arc and traveled at a relatively  low velosity, were the most visible and are what most people were referring to in writings.

Max

[Max Caliber]

Hot shot was solid iron shot and there was nothing to create a smoke. They could, however, sometimes be seen glowing when fired at night. Most projectiles with burning fuses will leave a smokey trail.  Mortar shells, which were fired in a high arc and traveled at a relatively  low velosity, were the most visible and are what most people were referring to in writings.

Max

[guardsgunner]

The smoke trail was more than likely made by damp mud and grass used as a wadding.

[Artilleryman]

It should be noted that hot shot (red hot from the furnace) if loaded properly can cool in the barrel without setting off the powder charge.  It is recommended that they be fired fairly quickly to prevent steam from the wads from reducing the effectiveness of the powder charge.  Also the powder charge for hot shot is reduced from 1/4th to 1/6th the weight of the shot.  This creates more splintering of the wood target and reduces the chances of going all the way through.  I added this post for those people who didn't want to wade through the PDF for Gibbon's.  

I am not in the least interested in trying this type of shooting out under any circumstances.