What's this?

[Bob Gerard]

I was looking through a book about a Jaeger   (https://www.dwjmedien.de/Steinschloss-Jaegerbuechsenthat ) that's posted in another thread here (https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=73292.0 ) and saw a ball-and spring set-up which I had never seen before. I am wondering what it is, maybe a double ball load? What is it?


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[Levy]

Bob, I think that is a pretty old concept. A whole wooden chest full of split shot was recovered from a 1715 Plate Fleet wreck off of Ft. Pierce, FL.  Each piece was half of a shot that had a double twisted wire in it that  joined with another half-shot that was the same.  Some of the wires were brass and some of them were iron.  I've also seen pictures of projectiles recovered more like the one that you show with the coiled wire.  They also used the same basic idea with cannon shot that was expanding bar shot, bar shot, chain shot and split shot.  James Levy 

[Marcruger]

Looks effective when firing at a 50 yard wide line of enemy soldiers.  Squirrel hunting? Not so much.

[Bob Gerard]

I had thought of perhaps split shot, though it is photographed in conjunction with a Jaeger rifle. Now how, thought I, could one load these, patched, down a rifled barrel? (Or maybe they are just included as a novelty for display?)

[Dphariss]

Anything that keeps the balls any distance apart in the barrel could cause “issues”. Cannons sometimes used bar or chain shot to cut rigging and sails. What use this would be is beyond me. Buck and ball  would be more effective.

[Tim Crosby]

 I can see that if the wire ends are cast in the balls. Not used for hunting but in a defense position, when fired I would imagine they would make a wicked sound when flying through the air not to mention the damage they would do to flesh and bone.

  Tim C.

[Pukka Bundook]

To my mind, they could be hard on the bore, as the rear one sets off first, compreeses the spring and forces it out to the barrel walls...

[2 shots]

maybe when fired the spring compresses and propels the front ball faster? oh wait ...then it might propel the rear ball back at you