LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ammunition: Guns
built 235 days ago
Just as rifled cannon were in an experimental phase at the beginning of the Civil War, so ammunition for those cannon were developed in bewildering variety. Each of the types shown here employed a different method of engaging the rifling on a gun. The James shot allowed gas to pass through slots in the lower part of the projectile, forcing the thin metal sabot to expand outward and engage the rifling. The Read and Parrott designs, which were substantially similar though not identical, relied on a soft metal cup (usually brass or wrought iron) in the base to expand and take the rifling. Hotchkiss ammunition was manufactured in three parts; the upper bolt was separated from the lower base by a lead ring sabot around the exterior. The firing forced the two iron parts together, accordian-like, expanding the intermediate lead ring to engage the rifling.
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In the very near future, the team is looking forward to introducing ammunition with improved Insensitive Munitions (IM) performance. The focus is on updating the current ammunition's propulsion systems that were qualified in the 1980's or earlier. By leveraging technology developed and demonstrated in the U.S. and Europe on similar ammunition types, the team will be able to minimize the cost to introduce these improvements. The technology being introduced has the added benefits of reducing gun barrel wear and reducing overall stress to the platform, while providing higher energy for added range, accuracy and lethality. By reducing maintenance cost to the platform and utilizing proven low cost production techniques, the overall cost of the ammunition is comparable to that of the current ammunition. In the not too distant future, the team is looking forward to taking this approach further and introducing IM improved explosives to replace that used in the current warheads of tactical ammunition.
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With few exceptions (such as the mountain howitzer) the limber chest was the same size for all field pieces, and the amount of ammunition it could hold varied with the caliber and rifling. A limber chest could hold 50 rounds of ammunition for a six-pounder; with its four chests (two on the caisson and one on each limber), each six-pounder gun carried 200 rounds. The same chest would only hold 32 rounds for a 12-pounder. By regulation, each chest included some of each type of ammunition used by the piece, although field practice might vary this. (The numbers given are for fixed ammunition, in which the shot or shell is strapped to a wooden sabot, with the powder bag affixed, so that the ammunition can be loaded in a single movement. This was the typical, but not universal practice during the War.)
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The design of the ammunition is determined by its purpose; anti-personnel ammunition is often designed to break up or tumble inside the target, in order to maximize the damage done. Anti-personnel shells contain shrapnel and are designed to explode in mid-air, so its fragments will spread over a large area. Armor-piercing ammunition tends to be hard, sharp, and narrow, often with lubrication. Incendiary projectiles include a material such as white phosphorus which burns fiercely. Tracer ammunition emits light as it travels, allowing the gunner to see the path of bullets in flight while using a machine gun.
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An ammunition column consists of military vehicles carrying gun and S.A. ammunition for the combatant unit to which the column belongs. Thus the ammunition columns of a division, forming part of the brigades of field artillery, carry reserve ammunition for the guns, the machine guns of the infantry and the rifles of all arms. Generally speaking, the ammunition column of each of the artillery brigades furnishes spare ammunition for its own batteries and for one of the brigades of infantry. All ammunition columns are officered and manned by the Royal Artillery. They are not reserved exclusively to their own brigades, divisions, &c., but may be called upon to furnish ammunition to any unit requiring it during an action.
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Every reduction in the caliber (size) of the rifle's ammunition means an increase in the number of rounds carried. One hundred rounds of the Martini-Henry ammunition weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces (4.8 kg); the same weight gives 155 rounds of 0.303 in (7.7 mm) ammunition and at 0.256 in (6.5 mm) the number of rounds is still greater. The regimental reserves were historically carried in six S.A.A. carts and on eight pack animals. The six carts are distributed, one as reserve to the machine gun, three as reserve to the battalion itself, and two as part of the brigade reserve, which consists therefore of eight carts. The brigade reserve communicates directly with the brigade ammunition columns of the artillery (see below).
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