James Hotshot Base

[redbob]

What sized ball fit the James "Hotshot" base? If it was for a 3.8" James was the ball a 6#er or was it a special sized ball?

[emike123]

These took a regular 6pdr solid shot. I really think the base was just a sabot like it was for the James canister rounds, but open to being proven wrong on that.

[redbob]

That answers my question, thanks.

[callicles]

Great question, redbob. So the base was also close to 3.67" like the 6pdr?  Or was base closer to 3.8"?

[redbob]

The outside diameter of the base is 3.65". Also the ball doesn't fit snuggly in the base, if it wasn't secured; it would slide around in the cup.

[callicles]

Thanks, sorry for getting diameter wrong. What I was trying to get at was could the same James hotshot set-up (3.65) also be used in a 6-pounder (3.67?) artillery piece just the same as it could be used in a 3.8" ? James rifle? The reason I ask is that I found a James canister base fired from an artillery unit having both 6-pound smooth bores and James rifles. Just wondering if these projectiles could be interchanged between artillery pieces. Thanks

[emike123]

Probably not because there was also lead sheet around the iron and burlap over that.  These 2 additional elements of the sabot would add too much to the 3.65" diameter of the iron base for it to fit in a 6pdr smoothbore, at least in my eatimation.

[callicles]

Thanks. I see from one of the sites that a 6-pounder gun would fire these things with a 3.63 diameter projectile system,  the 3.8 James a 3.65?

[emike123]

The 3.8" has a 3.8" bore but the round had to fit down the barrel so was roughly a tenth of an inch narrower.  Adding the lead sabot shesthing and burlap to your 3.65" diameter base gets it too big, in my opinion, to fit down the barrel of a 6pdr smoothbore.

[callicles]

Thanks. I was just thinking of the below pictured diameter for the 6-pounder.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/projectiles/canister/IIIA28.htm

[emike123]

I didn't mention the tin covering also!  Put all that around a 3.65 or 3.63" iron base and you probably aren't going to get it down the muzzle of a 3.67" bored tube.

Early James rifling was done on guns with a 3.67" bore, but the vast majority we know and love were done on a 3.8" bore.  Many of the 3.8" guns were re-rifled 6pdr smoothbores.

[emike123]

Carl, is that link to the base you found?  I thought yours was a canister base though which is shallower than the one designed to hold the 6pdr ball, but perhaps another was found there or the ball was photoshopped to fit

[redbob]

The depth of the cup is less than 1/4" on my base.

[CarlS]

I found one each James canister base and hotshot base back in the 1970's.  For some reason I never cleaned them more than with a wire brush.  The canister base has a shallow flat bottom and the hotshot base is very cupped to accommodate a round surface.  In the area of the canister base I found a few lead balls that looked to be about 1" in diameter but hard to say with any accuracy as they were misshapen somewhat.  Both bases have recesses on the edge seemingly for strapping to fit into.  See below a couple images of them.

[redbob]

Mine appears to be like the base on the right.