Item Number: A01312

Item Title: Unfired Dyer 4.5 Inch Shell

Price: $380

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: US

Type: Dyer

Size: 4.5 Inch Caliber

Sabot: Lead Cup

Fuse: Dyer Time Adapter

Book:
Jack Bell Page 222

Location Recovered: Unknown

Description:During the 2nd half of the war the union army introduced a 4.5-inch caliber seige gun. They were on monstrous wooden carriages like field artillery but due to their weight and size the effort limited their use to siege operations where there was time and manpower to wheel them into position to fire large shells a long way. They were mainly used at Chattanooga, Atlanta and Petersburg. They seemed to be deciding on what type of ammo to used in them as you can find Dyers, Hotchkiss and Schenkl shells made for this gun. In Chattanooga they seemed to fire mostly Dyers and Hotchkiss. In Atlanta it was mostly Schenkl shells. In Petersburg and Richmond it was a little of all three. There was also a good number of them in the shell dump near the Augusta, GA arsenal. This is one of my favorite gun and projectile.

This shell is a 4.5-inch Dyer and weighs in at 25 pounds 10 ounces. At that weight it might be a case shot. It still has a pretty good Dyer time fuse though it looks like something hard landed on it and flattened it a bit. But the center fuse hole is clearly there and the spanner holes are faintly there. In most shells, the zinc fuse breaks down from galvanic action but this one survived. The shell's iron surface is pretty good though it has been restored to remove, I presume, some pitting. It must have been light pitting as I used a magnet to test and it has good iron everywhere. it is hard for me to describe it but it looks like they mixed sand with dark stain polyurethane and painted it. The sabot is really nice having a good smooth surface with patina. Priced to reflect the conservation it is a chance to get one of these that shows well but won't break the bank.

(Note in pictures it is not drilled yet but will be before being shipped.)

Shell is cleaned, coated and disarmed.