1- iron-bodied shells which have an unmistakable Tie-ring on their base.
Answer: I will admit that some early Confederate Archer ans Federal James projectiles have what appears to be tie-on groove for attachment of cartridge bag. However, this would be an engineering and ordnance no-no. It would require the black powder propelling charge to be in direct contact with the body of the shell with no canvas between. This is just asking for an early detonation while ramming home the shot during the loading process. Isn’t it much more likely that the purpose was for the placement of a lubricated hemp rope to cut down on fouling of the rifling by the lead sabots?
2- Mullane/Tennessee-sabot wooden dowels which have an unmistakable Tie-ring in the wood.
Answer: The wooden dowel was to aid in uniform expansion of the base. Form follows function. You are reversing this engineering axiom and assuming the function from the form.
3- Excavated fired Read copper-sabot projectiles with twine and cloth preserved in the groove between the copper sabot and iron shell-body.
Answer: Again, lubrication.
4- A cache of excavated unfired Schenkl shells with cloth "fossilized" onto the paper-mache sabot.
Answer: The formula for constructing the sabots for Schenkl projectiles was lost with Schenkl’s untimely death. The exact composition of pulp, resins, and drying oils is still unknown and unduplicated. The Boston Foundry, tried many methods to keep their post-Schenkl sabots from breaking apart or swelling during transportation. One method was wrapping a sheet-metal band at the top and a sheet metal cup at the bottom. Another was gluing a covering of cloth to better hold the laquer, rather than cartridge paper as was previously used. Both methods gave less than satisfactory results without the original formula.
5- The many 3" Dyer sabots which have a long-armed iron sheetmetal "X" soldered onto the bottom of sabot. A large cache of unfired ones which was excavated at Fredericksburg included some showing cloth "fossilized" on the sabot around the iron sheetmetal X.
Answer: It is well known that the sheet metal ‘X’ was an attempt to keep the cast cup from stripping off in flight. This is a severely undesirable occurrence when firing over the heads of friendly forces. I have no comment on any ‘fossilized’ cloth. I didn’t see it.
Now, your theory of rifled ammunition with cartridge bags attached is still interesting, and the idea MAY have been attempted on a very tiny experimental basis. I can certainly see the advantage of loading in one motion. However, if so, it must have been a failure as it wasn’t generally adopted and is not mentioned in the literature of any country. As you are well aware, the United States was certainly NOT at the forefront of artillery development in the 19th century.
