This is a Confederate 3" Read artillery shell from the Civil War. This projectile was developed by Dr. John Read, a physician from Alabama. This is one of the most widely used projectiles of that war, and could be used as a regular bolt, shell, case shot and a special chilled nose variant that was used to penetrate armor. This projectile was fired from a three inch rifled gun. It measures 2.9" in diameter, 7" in length and weighs 5.4 pounds. The brass fuse adapter is still in the shell. The bottom bourellet and sabot are missing, most likely thorwn when the shell was fired. This happened quite often, either due to casting flaws or the poor quality of iron used in the Confederate Arsenals. The body of the shell has some ground action and has pitting over the entire shell. I have no information on where it was excavated. This type shell was used in the field, and is sometimes referred to a the Virginia style, simply because most of them are recovered in that area. This one will make a fine addition to your artillery collection.

Item # AA3017

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