Posted on 01/12/2007 9:07:07 AM PST by Dysart
EULESS — A metal object found at a business parking lot last week has been identified as a 140-year-old artillery shell from the Civil War era, authorities said Friday.
The live round was scheduled to be defused in a few days by the members of the Northeast Explosive Response Team, who retrieved the shell on Jan. 5 from property at Simtek Inc.
Authorities believe the shell could still contain black powder.
“It still had a fuse cap at the end of it,” said Euless fire investigator Vernon Gilmore.
A military official identified the shell this week after being shown photographs of it.
The shell was used with Parrott cannons in the Civil War, authorities said. No weapon was found with the shell.
“There was Civil War activity in Texas, but how that shell got here we don’t know,” Gilmore said. “It could have just fallen from a wagon traveling this area, or a collector could have just lost it.”
The shell was found about 12:50 p.m. on Jan. 5 in the 1500 block of Royal Parkway.
An employee discovered the shell several days before Jan. 5 while doing landscaping work and left it near the parking lot but never reported it. Another employee found it Jan. 5 and Simtek officials called authorities.
Firefighters evacuated the business after they arrived on the scene as explosive experts attempted to remove the 20-pound shell.
At first, a robot was used, but the shell was too heavy for the robot to lift, authorities said.
An explosive team member then grabbed the shell and placed it in a container.
No injuries were reported.
The Parrot guns were rifled and hit with more power and accuracy than the smoothbores.
Just to clarify- the shell pic I posted was not from the article, or directly related to the find in Euless since none was available. I simply found a civil war era shell approximating 20lbs, and posted it. May or may not be similar.
Thanks. RebelBanker posted a pic of a Parrott shell.
The shell illustrated above is frome a James gun I think, not a Parrott. Parrott shells were a basic cone tipped cylinder with a sabbot collared around the base.
Sourced from http://www.civilwarartillery.com/ 
DIAMETER: 3.63 inches
GUN: 20-pounder Parrott rifle, 3.67-inch caliber
LENGTH: 8 7/8 inches
WEIGHT: 19 pounds 14 ounces
CONSTRUCTION: Solid shot
SABOT: Brass ring
FUZING: None
This style of Parrott projectile is commonly referred to as a Parrott chilled-nose bolt. An explanation of the manufacturing process for this projectile's nose can be found in the chilled-iron definition in our glossary. This projectile was designed primarily for destroying fortifications and not used as an anti-personnel projectile. It is also found in a 10-pounder (2.9-inch caliber) size. Note the expanded brass sabot on this fired example which shows the impressions of the five lands and grooves from the 20-pounder (3.67-inch caliber) Parrott rifle.
The shell depicted at post 22 is indeed a Parrott shell.
Confederate Read-Parrott 
The Confederate Read-Parrott above was most likely manufactured by Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. This is an example of a projectile that does not contain case-shot balls. Projectiles with this type of interior are often referred to as common shells. The term common shell refers to the interior construction and not the relative rarity of the projectile.
I have been Google-ing this and it sure is not coming up with actual design info on the gun. Don't they like military weapons over there?
They look fearsome. Were the projectiles supersonic? Bet they were since they had high pressure that sometimes overcame the tensile strength of a couple inches of steel of the barrel during firing.
They look fearsome. Were the projectiles supersonic? Bet they were since they had high pressure that sometimes overcame the tensile strength of a couple inches of steel of the barrel during firing.
Your exactly right. Google is very anti-gun (very pro porn).
I never use google myself. I generally use ASK. I won’t support anti-freedom companies if I can help it.
I agree. From looking through the search results from http://www.civilwarartillery.com for Parrott the Union and Confederate armies had their own designs for the Parrott guns and some of the shells were more commonly used in different battles or theaters.
The field artillery is the correct gun of course. I was going to post another picture but you beat me to it.
Range just over 4,000 yards/15 deg elev. The gun itself weighed in at ~ 1750 lbs and was about 7and 1/2 feet long. Muzzle velocity 1700 fps.
That will do for fearsome. Mighty impressive even now.
EULESS — A metal object found at a business parking lot last week has been identified as a 140-year-old artillery shell from the Civil War era, authorities said Friday.
The live round was scheduled to be defused in a few days by the members of the Northeast Explosive Response Team, who retrieved the shell on Jan. 5 from property at Simtek Inc.
Authorities believe the shell could still contain black powder.
“It still had a fuse cap at the end of it,” said Euless fire investigator Vernon Gilmore.
A military official identified the shell this week after being shown photographs of it.
The shell was used with Parrott cannons in the Civil War, authorities said. No weapon was found with the shell.
“There was Civil War activity in Texas, but how that shell got here we don’t know,” Gilmore said. “It could have just fallen from a wagon traveling this area, or a collector could have just lost it.”
The shell was found about 12:50 p.m. on Jan. 5 in the 1500 block of Royal Parkway.
An employee discovered the shell several days before Jan. 5 while doing landscaping work and left it near the parking lot but never reported it. Another employee found it Jan. 5 and Simtek officials called authorities.
Firefighters evacuated the business after they arrived on the scene as explosive experts attempted to remove the 20-pound shell.
At first, a robot was used, but the shell was too heavy for the robot to lift, authorities said.
An explosive team member then grabbed the shell and placed it in a container.
No injuries were reported.
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