From what was this bullet fired?

[muffett.2008]

According to Bury's Manual of Rifleing and Rifle Sights, It was fired from a Henry rifle, picture on page 42. and is listed as a mechanically fitted bullet fired from Mr. Henry's gun, with a pic. of a section of rifled barrel.

Information

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[Terrylee]

Hi Muffett,

Many thanks and very interesting! At last we seem to have a lead. Would it be possible to post the information from Bury's Manual? What exactly is a mechanically fitted bullet and the process?

Terry

[Simon]

IIRC "Mechanically fitted to bore" means that the bullet head is manufactured to the same profile as the rifling as in the Whitworth rifle. A bit like a bolt is mechanically fitted to a nut I guess

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Pre-rifled bullets!!

How do you line them up in the chamber?

Brunswick balls?

The Whitworth Rifle of my brief acquaintance, (no, I wasn't issued one as a recruit), was a "small-bore" .451" and fired hexagonal bullets that matched the hexagonal rifling.

Apparently, one of the Italian makers does a nice reproduction for those who like their charcoal burners a little different.

[Peter Laidler]

Thinking on my feet BinO..... If it was a single loader, then you feed the hex headed bullet/cartridge into the chamber by hand and it'd find its own geometry as the hex bullet engages with the hex rifling and slightly rotates as it enters the leed. Not something you'd trust if it were a machine gun feed but.......... Complicated yes. Not my forte of course and am out of my depth but just a thought.........

[muffett.2008]

Terrylee, not really much there, here are the pages that are.
Attachment 51202Attachment 51203

[Terrylee]

Dear Muffett,

Again many thanks for the information on the Henry bullet. This thread is really holding my interest! However, I have the advantage of being able to examine the bullet itself and rather doubt that Henry's system is the answer.

As mentioned previously, the bullet is almost certainly a cupro-nicol jacketed Mk.VII, while the Henry appears to be a cast solid to be used in a muzzle-loader. Bury's text even refers to a "nipple".

The bullet in my possession has obviously experienced considerable force in being extruded into its present form. I here refer particularly to my second photograph. It seems that the base has undergone a slight flanging effect. Is this not consistent with an original circular cross-section being violently forced into its current peculiar shape?

Terry

[muffett.2008]

Reminds me of my Anti Tank days, running a 106RCL shoot when a round was incorrectly loaded in a hot gun.
Stuck solid, rayon bag beginning to smoke and the safety officer screaming for us to get out of there.
Told him to p... off, hooked a toggle rope around the base and heaved it out.......no blow ups on my watch mate!

[Peter Laidler]

That made me chuckle Muffer. We had the same with the little 84mm Charlie Gustav (the Charle-Gee). Some over enthusiastic gunner, usually a Gurkha on Ashan ranges, desperate to get a second shot off at one of the old Japanese tank hulks or Bren Gun carriers (no other Armour out there.....) would whack the round into the breech and miss the alignment cam. The miss-hit would/could loosen that and send a big chunk off the rim of the round only to jamb it in the open breech.

Apparently, according to the bomb jockeys (the ammo teccies) this whacking could upset the delicate whatsits inside the rocket and they'd stop firing and.......... What a palava. And we were always sweating our cobblers off, covered in dust and cr........, er....., other detritus

The only phrase I learned in Urdu '............. not a-xxxxing-gain........' or words to that effect!

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Ah, yes, the mighty Charlie G.

Firing illumination rounds is a hoot! The barrel is pointed almost vertically on "launch". Gunner and number two are then enveloped in a massive ball of fire as the back-blast from the venturi strikes the ground and bounces back, along with a few kilos of dust and crap, around the crew. They are LOUD!! Plugs AND muffs are a a good start.

As for the good old 106 beasties, the backblast leaves the Gustav for dead. On one shoot at Tin Can Bay, back in the "good old days", it was discovered that these guns were excellent fly-killers. No, not from hitting them with the projectle, though it seemed at times that the insects were of that magnitude, but every time the thing fired, the squadrons of flies that had just been driving the crew nuts were instantly rendered "inert" by the pressure wave. There was, however, a seemingly endless supply of "reserves".