Really Rare Find

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Carl,
    Indeed it is a well preserved shell.  Do you think that the cleaning also cleaned the threads beneath the sabot? Oh and James Island is full of muddy locations.
I was hoping for a cleaned up sabot and base shot.  Does anyone know if the sabot is left or right hand threads? Shell rotation should tighten the sabot so it should be left hand ed.
It appears that a tool of some kind has already been applied to the sabot or are those rifling marks?
Kind Regards,
John

[emike123]

https://books.google.com/books?id=g2S3_eFxFnMC&pg=PA497&dq=cochran+shell+%22jack+bell%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvpqP7ydbJAhXDHD4KHcwnA1YQ6AEILzAA#v=onepage&q=cochran%20shell&f=false

[relicrunner]

yes, we did pick up 2 pieces of a Cochran sabot at the Franklin show 3 years ago......the 2 pieces fit together. The seller said they were dredged up in Mobile

[scottfromgeorgia]

From Jack Bell's book, with apologies:

[CarlS]

Hello,

Thanks Scott!  Great minds think alike.  I was in the process of snipping the part in the sabot section to post showing the complete sabot and explaining how it functions.   Much to my surprise he doesn't indicate which direction the threading is. 

These are from Jack Bell's book on Heavy Artillery.  It is a must have book for artillery students and collectors.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Beautiful, thank you Scott and Carl.  I had forgotten about Bell's introduction page. great image, I wonder if it is at the West Point museum? An original image sure would be nice to have.
Kind Regards,
John
P.s. Relic runner would you post some hi-res photos of your pieces?  Thanks
MIKE===I wondr if Jack realizes his book is on line to be downloaded by anyone.  Might hurt his book sales....

[Cap and Ball]

Hello John, The marks on the sabot are faint rifling and not tool marks. I haven't tried to remove the sabot. I will take some more photos of the base for you. Chris

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Chris,
   thank you for the offer. You have an amazing piece of ordnance there4 in your Cochran shell..  Do you know what type of rifle shot this shell?
Carl - I recall Jack Bell's design types but how nice it would be to have a close up, well focused and lighted sabot.
Clear shots of the inside and the outside where one can really see its interconnecting parts a nice shot of the shell body without the sabot would really be something. I can wish can't I??
Regards,
John

[Cap and Ball]

John, I believe that it was fired from a eighty-pounder Dahlgren rifle.

Chris

[Dave the plumber]

 I have a Cochran shell like the one on page 205, which is different than Cap and Balls. It has a naval watercap fuze, by the way. Interestingly, like the one in the book, mine measures over 6 inch too, just about 6.15.      Could there be another diameter rifle out there ??
   by the way John, I haven't seen you this excited since the end of prohibition !!

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Chris,
    Surely the long term electrolysis has cleaned beneath the threads.  Go to your local drug store and ask the druggist for a small bottle of "Oil of Wintergreen".  Place it around the top for a soak and then tun the shell nose down and pour a little around the base of the sabot. Keep the oil wiped off the exterior.
     Oil of Wintergreen is much better than penetrating oil  and will not harm either the sabot or the shell.
If you have a way to vibrate the shell in each of the positions, so much the better.  The goal is to loosen the sabot, without damage.  Above all do not put a pipe wrench on the sabot, worse thing you can do.
   I was hoping someone would know which way the sabot unscrews, left or right hand. Use a canvas strap wrench and do not over tighten.
Kind Regards,
John
P.s. Dave the Plumber:  remember the excitement and interest in your Eureka shell with the ring resistance percussion fuze, look what it produced.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Dave, please post photos of your shell or send to me and I will post for you.
Bart

[divedigger]

i wouldn't mess with the sabot, i just spent a few hours removing 16 bolts from the seats of a silverado and a suburban and they were never in a mud bog. That shell is beautiful and it don't matter which way it was screwed on, it ain't likely to come off.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

It was just a suggestion, not an order!:) Just for the facts, that's all. Can you look at the threads on your sabot frags and determine which way??
John

[emike123]

Bart, I am going to send you an email with the name of the fellow I referenced who has the mint one with a screw off sabot.  I trust you, but there are unfortunately 1 or 2 bottomfeeders who lurk here who might be on him like white on rice if I post the information publicly.

Horse Soldier had a big one similar to Chris' a year or two ago when I went out there to look at a large collection they acquired and Wes asked me to help them sort through it.  I ended up buying a lot of nice large caliber shells from them, but their Cochran had not been preserved and had further been messed with and it appeared someone had driven a watercap fuse into it which did not look right so I passed on that dog.  It is out there somewhere also and the shell is probably ok though not nearly as nice as this one.