ACWSA Grayling artillery shoot.

[Artilleryman]

Some pics from the Grayling ACWSA shoot this past weekend.



Hughes gun



Ellsworth gun



600 yard Ellsworth target, seven hits for 10 shots in foggy, misty rain.



10 pdr Parrott



600 yard Parrott target, eight hits, one in the bull for 10 shots, in foggy misty rain.



My Ellsworth



600 yard Ellsworth target, eight hits for 10 shots, in foggy, misty rain.

[Cannoneer]

Good show Norm! How come some of the Parrott projectiles are keyholing?

[Artilleryman]

They land a few feet short and bounced in, they still count as part of the score.  Some of the other holes are bigger because the projectile was yawing some.

[Cat Whisperer]

They land a few feet short and bounced in, they still count as part of the score.  Some of the other holes are bigger because the projectile was yawing some.

That makes sense, one would get killed just as dead.      

[Artilleryman]

Rifled projectiles don't ricochet as well as smoothbore projectiles.  It was common practice to ricochet cannonballs into enemy formations if the ground was suitable.  If everything worked right the cannonball never bounced higher than the muzzle of the gun it was fired from.  This was a very effective tactic.

[Cat Whisperer]

Rifled projectiles don't ricochet as well as smoothbore projectiles.  It was common practice to ricochet cannonballs into enemy formations if the ground was suitable.  If everything worked right the cannonball never bounced higher than the muzzle of the gun it was fired from.  This was a very effective tactic.

Rifled projos ...  perhaps didn't ricochet well because of the shape - digging it.  When we fired 105's at low angle with 0.1 second delay fuse, the idea was to skip them in order to get an air burst - perhaps half could do it IF the ground was hard and flat.

[Artilleryman]

Hard and flat is the key to making it work.  At Grayling the ground looks flat put has ruts in it.  Along with that it is sandy with a lot of gravel and stones in it.  Cannonballs tend to take high bounces.  To get a hit on targets with a ricochet you need to hit very close to the target.

[Cannoneer]

Rifled projectiles don't ricochet as well as smoothbore projectiles.  It was common practice to ricochet cannonballs into enemy formations if the ground was suitable.  If everything worked right the cannonball never bounced higher than the muzzle of the gun it was fired from.  This was a very effective tactic.

That was one of Napoleon's favorite artillery tactics.