jubal;4481804 said:
I wondered how they fired grape and shot shells,this is the first time I have ever seen this container,you called it a sabot.
I even clicked on the enlargement button to get a closer look at all the details on each picture.
I really enjoy all the old time pictures,no matter what they are of. Keep them coming.
Here's a bad wiki article on sabots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabot
The plastic cup on a shotgun shell used on smaller bird shot is technically a sabot.
At close range you really don't need a sabot device on any kind of shot. On any type of muzzle-loading artillery piece you can load the shot directly after the powder depending on the distance you wish to range to on the battlefield. The trick though is getting the shot-charge compacted enough to produce the amount of pressure you need to fire at maximum distance. Too much shot/packing in front of the powder, and you get the cannon in the photo that had exploded.
I'm guessing the sabot in the war photos is used as troops muster for an attack. The shot is too small for anything else, but too big for a close in attack where grape shot would be preferred.
DFWJC;4481944 said:
I had seen this just recently--amazing shots.
What really astounds me is that this was only 150 years ago. It seems like it should be so much further back in time.
Another number to mull over, the United States had only declared independence 85 years before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.
There's a chance that someone was born and could remember the Revolution as well as living through the Civil War. What I'd give to hear their stories today.
