bar /chain shot civil war?

[alwion]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170794370542?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649  heres the link to the above item, seller doesn't seem to know much about it, and I know even less lol. I can't tell if its a repro or not.

[Dave the plumber]

                I know most, if not all of his other artillery items he has for sale are reproductions.  Always look into the sellar befor you bid. Check the ' originality ' of his other items, and his feedback. The worm he has is made from a hay rake, the gimlets are BS, and anything with that US stamp is typically BS. Be wary of anything blacksmith made, as they can age it today as good as the real deal. 

[scottfromgeorgia]

I don't like it. The arms seem too puny to hold the weights once they are fired. It seems they would just snap off. It would never fly in a straight line for more than a few yards. I would guess it is weird fantasy item or something other than an artillery piece.

[divedigger]

looks like bedwarmers linked together to me

[alwion]

It does look like some of the early shot shown in the initial post in this thread from the shipwreck, especially one diagram, including the thin rods. But The patina of the shot itself looks really bad, and the lack of pitting / polish on the bottom and insides. And yes alot of his other stuff looks like pure garbage, and thats  being polite  lol. I am still curious if this is close to an original form, since Mike posted those unusual pieces he had, and this is similar to the Star round he has. Does look really flimsy.

[scottfromgeorgia]

It really is nothing like the star shot. "Twine held the sections together and they separated when shot." The natural inclination of these separate weights would be to fly in different trajectories. There is no way those little arms would hold it all together, IMHO.

[alwion]

actually I agree on all points:) I really can't see how this item or the earlier diagrams from the shipwreck sight would hold together, unless the charge was really small like for 100 yard distance, basically barely clearing the cannon. , the pictures I've seen of sliding bar shot look too fragile to work also. Overall not a good design. I think even the chain shot flew apart alot of the time, which was sturdier.   By similar to the star shot, I ment segmented and designed to seperate and fly apart , which is a little different from chain which loaded 2 balls. Looks like by the CW they had stopped all 2+ piece loaded ideas, IE star shot, chain, etc. must just have not worked well. I can only think of the hot shot which was still used as a 2 piece load, and it wasn't to double the damage, but more of a spacer. The earlier projectiles shows they were always experimenting though, still neet to read about:). It there a book on earlier projectiles?

[speedenforcer]

Junk