James hot shot

[alwion]

picture of a nice hotshot from Shiloh, thanks to Carl and Jon for remembering me since I couldn't attend. Metals really clean and you can see all the molding details. I assume the slot was for where they crimped the metal so there would not be a raise in the side, not sure what the upper holes are for around the top. now the 1st question comes to mind is, why were these at shiloh since they were designed as a anti ship round, and took a pretty substantial "oven" to heat them  to red hot. A couple ideas came about while discussing this concept. 1. The battle was early war before there were too many ironclads, were they fired at boats on the river?. 2 The supplies for both armies were usually short, were they fired non heated as a double shot because thats what they had. 3, Were some hotshot repurposed as canister. both bases have been found at Shiloh, were the hotshot redone for more needed canister rounds

[redbob]

Where the hotshot base was concave, the canister base was flat and I've always wondered about the holes around the rim-was the ball attached to the base by straps?

[speedenforcer]

Very Nice

[scottfromgeorgia]

Gorgeous. My last item on my wish list.

[CarlS]

That is a really nice one and good to see it be appreciated.  Had I not had one I found I'd had it in my collection in a heartbeat.

In cleaning it there were some questions that came to mind.  The first was the cast groove on the side which like you I feel was likely a place for the tine sleeve's crimp to sit without sticking out and making it hard to load the round.  Another question was regarding the holes around the edge.  They are tapered and not just through holes for a screw or brad.  Were they vent holes?  Seem small for that but who knows.  Also on the bottom there are a number of what look like casting sprues.  You can see the 4 lead fill holes (3 still filled with lead and one open) but also there are some round spots that I'm not sure what are for or from.

Regarding the use I'm also not certain that it is used for a hot shot.  First of all a 6-lber solid doesn't fit the curve of the base correctly.  I know Brant has found a couple shot in that area that are bigger than 6-lbers and called 8-lbers.  Perhaps they are made for this base.  I've not had the chance to fit them.  But as Alwion surmises they may just be a variant of the canister that just happens to be very cupped.

[alwion]

additionally along Carls thinking, why would the edges blow off, as he is correct, it only hits a small bearing area in the center. would love to see one of these 8 lbrs