Britten Shell Fragments

[dave h]

Attached is a layout of some Britten Shell fragments.  The Britten was a segmented shell fired from a Blakely rifle.  The interior has nine long wedges of iron with lines of weakness cast in each wedge. Ideally, the bursting charge broke the 9 long wedges into fifty-four fragments, and the outer shell body into many fragments as well.   I found pieces of the outer shell, nose area, and 12 segments that fit together like the attached cross section of a complete shell.  My friends found sections from the base.  I am not sure if they are all from the same shell, likely not.  The cross section pic is out of McKee and Mason's book, pg. 98.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Dave,
There is a patent drawing of the Britten on this post:
http://bulletandshell.com/forum/index.php?topic=104.msg451#msg451
Regards,
John

[CarlS]

Dave: Very nice finds.  I've got a few pieces of them in my collection that I picked up over the years but I've never found a piece.  I always wanted to.

John:  Is the drawing accurate as it doesn't show the internal segments going to the bottom of the shell.  Or does this illustrate a difference between the patent drawing and what got actually produced?  I guess it could also represent a variant where one caliber was done one way and another caliber was done another.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Carl,
   My illustration was made directly from the patent drawing.  Usually there are minor changes in the production models.
Perhaps the larger caliber shells are arranged differently.
John