Hello,
At the Franklin Show while making my last trip out the door to head home, I made a trade of a print I had for a 3.67-inch Hotchkiss bolt nose. Many of you have seen these around. They are the type with the hollow nose post. I didn't have on in my collection and thought it a nice piece to show how the weight was reduced which increases projectile speed and lessens the stress on the brass rifled 6-lber gun which fired it.
What was of interest with regards to this nose was that I thought it had a casting seam down the hollow post. When I finally got around to cleaning it, I found it was in fact a wire which has one end embedded into the nose. I can't imagine what this wire was other than something to hold the sand casting core that created the hollow. I find it odd that it would be so far over near the wall. I assume the end accidentally found its way into the shell casting and was therefore stuck and they cust it off as far as the cutters would reach. Has anyone else seen something like this? Am I off base on my assumptions?
