glenn
cannon shot
Sun Apr 8 19:01:18 2001


Round shot was cast hollow with a fuze hole connecting the cavity to outside. This cavity was pre-filled with a certain amount of black powder. The gunner, at the gun, would estimate the range and call it back to the cannoneer at the ammunition box who would cut the fuze to that range (certain number of seconds of flight), wedge the fuze into the hole in the round, and send it on its way to the gun. When the round was loaded into the gun muzzle, the fuze would be facing toward the front. When rammed down the round would be sitting on roughly (depending on the gun) a pound of powder. When everything was ready, the powder was ignited at the command "fire" by a cannoneer pulling on a friction primer at the back of the muzzle. The fuze would be lit just as it left the muzzle by the flame of the black powder going off. The fuze would burn into the shell on its way downrange. Soldiers receiving incoming at night said it looked like little fireflies coming at them. If cut correctly the fuze would burn into the powder charge and explode just as it reached the target sending shrapnel thereabouts.
Don't know when it all began but I think the friction primer was a Napoleonic invention.