What is a grapeshot in the Civil War?

grapeshot, cannon charge consisting of small round balls, usually of lead or iron, and used primarily as an antipersonnel weapon. Typically, the small iron balls were held in clusters of three by iron rings and combined in three tiers by cast-iron plates and a central connecting rod.

What is the difference between grapeshot and canister?

Similar multi-projectile ammunition Grapeshot was a geometric arrangement of round shot packed tightly into a canvas bag and separated from the gunpowder charge by a metal disk of full bore diameter. Grapeshot used fewer larger projectiles than were contained within canister or shrapnel shells.

Why was it called grapeshot?

In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of a collection of smaller-caliber round shots packed tightly in a canvas bag and separated from the gunpowder charge by a metal wadding, rather than being a single solid projectile. When assembled, the shot resembled a cluster of grapes, hence the name.

What is the effective range of grapeshot?

For small canister, the maximum effective ranges were 641, 534, and 427 yards, respectively. For maximum effect of any canister round for 12-, 8-, and 4-pounders the ranges were 800 yards, 700 yards, and 600 yards (or less), respectively with good effect on target.

Did cannonballs explode?

Contrary to Hollywood films and popular lore, these cannonballs did not explode on contact. Percussion fuses were not used on spherical projectiles. These shells and spherical case shot were designed to explode only when a flame reached the interior charge.

What caliber rifles were used in the Civil War?

Most Civil War infantrymen, both Federal and Confederate, carried . 58 or . 577 caliber rifle-muskets. The rifle-musket was first manufactured in the United States in 1855 and quickly replaced earlier smoothbore guns.

How many balls are in a canister shot?

48 iron balls
For close-in work they were loaded with canister—a metal can the size of the cannon-bore and filled with 48 iron balls, each 1 1/8th inch in diameter. When fired, these guns were like huge shotguns, the iron balls flying off in a wide arc of death and destruction.

What is in a cannonball?

Allegheny Arsenal continued producing four types of cannonballs: Solid iron balls (solid shot), clusters or cans of small iron or lead balls (known as case shot, grapeshot or canister), exploding iron balls filled with lead shrapnel (spherical case shot) and hollow iron exploding balls (shells).

Can grape shot pop lead?

It allows the Buccaneer to shoot flaming grapes that can pop Frozen and Lead Bloons, but not Purples. The grapes also cause a damage-over-time effect similar to the Mortar Monkey’s Burny Stuff upgrade; this does 1 damage per 1.5 seconds for 3 seconds.

What is cannon shot?

Definition of cannon-shot : the range of a cannon.

How does grape shot work?

Grapeshot code is fundamentally a search technology. When a URL is passed via an adtag or pixel, Grapeshot crawls the URL and pulls out all the words inside the page (not the words in the URL itself!). It then uses probability maths to discern the significant words, and weights each of them with relative importance.

When was grape shot invented?

Correctly used, this shot could explode in the air and blast the enemy with balls, like a long-range canister shot. This was a sort of British “secret weapon”, invented by Henry Shrapnel in 1784 – his name has become synonymous with the debris from artillery shots.