✅ SOLVED part of Projectile, What type?

Deputy Dave

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Jul 13, 2011
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Hi Ohio I`m no expert but it looks like a civil war round I think with more pics one of ladies and or gents will ID it for you. Nice find.
Good luck and good hunting
 

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Your artillery projectile fragment is definitely from a civil war yankee 3.8"-caliber James shell. That type was used in combat from 1861 through 1863, when it fell out of favor due to performance failures. Civil war artillery projectiles are given the inventor's name, if it is known. In this case, the inventor was Charles Tillinghast James.

All of the James explosive shells had an impact-detonation fuze. So, there should be some "dud" ones in the very-nearby vicinity. Don't worry about digging an intact one, because excavated 1860s artillery shells are NOT dangerous to merely handle, or even to drop on a concrete floor -- unlike 20th-Century artillery shells. Please see the "About me" info in my Profile.

Listen for a deep iron signal on your detector. Fired James 3.8"-caliber shells can be anywhere from a few inches to 4 feet deep.

Here's a photo of an intact one.
 

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Thanks for the information. My buddy found this on my property here in Tennessee. I looked in my Thomas Dickey book of artillery and thought that it was a James shell.
 

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That's cool! Great information TCB.
 

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Don't worry about digging an intact one, because excavated 1860s artillery shells are NOT dangerous to merely handle, or even to drop on a concrete floor -- unlike 20th-Century artillery shells.
Just don't have one of your workers try to remove the cap from it if you're in close proximity, which is what killed the inventor of this one. -- I just had to look up some history, as I share his mothers maiden name (Tillinghast).
 

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