Item Number: A01131

Item Title: Sweet Mullane : Sale! Was $625

Price: $560

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: CS

Type: Mullane Shell

Size: 3 Inch Caliber

Sabot: Copper Disk

Fuse: Wood Adapter (Missing)

Book:
Dickey and George (1993 Edition) Page 203
Melton and Pawl (Paperback Editon) Page 61 A-82

Location Recovered: Virginia

Description:The Mullanes are a very interesting type of shell. They have the same body profile as a Read shell with only the base being different. They are purely CS as the Union had nothing like them. The bourrelets and sabot attachment set them apart. They differ from the Read by way of sabot attachment. While the Read shell was cast around a copper ring like many shell patterns, the Mullane had a brass plate attached to the bottom with a bolt and 3 (or more) studs used to prevent rotation. The bottom plate was cupped away from the shell such that when fired it would be pushed forward causing it to flatten and gain a wider diameter thus forcing it into the grooves of the gun. These shells can be found in a wide variety of patterns and sizes.

This particular example is really nice. It is what Jack Melton refers to as the sub-pattern II which uses a longer bolt through a wood block to help prevent the copper disk from breaking off. The iron of the shell body and bolt is very good. The bourrelets are nice and crisp. There is the outline of a large vent sprue on the side of the shell. Mold lines are clearly seen up both sides of the shell. The shell took a wood fuse adapter and the hole for that is nice and smooth inside. The body has very little ground action.

The sabot shows the lands and grooves of an ordnance rifle cleanly marked on its edges. All three pins are in place as well as the long pattern square headed bolt in the center. The copper disk has a short pull on opposite sides but otherwise is very nice. It is clean underneath and so not fixed in place by corrosion, etc. You can also note a nice flame groove filed into the lower bourrelet. It looks to be all original and not a put together.

This came out of my collection as the casualty of an upgrade. It is so nice I was tempted to keep it too but the wallet doesn't allow that. I had planned one day to strip the old thick polyurethane off and give it a cleaner look.

The shell is inert, cleaned and coated.