Artillery issues for 150th events

[redlegger1]

Moderator Note: The '2 Gettysburgs' thread was going off its original broad focus and into the needs and standards of a particular branch of service. I've separated out that commentary here so that discussion can continue in proper order.
All the Best,
Provost-ADC

Eli

The overall artillery commander will be announced shortly, along with procedures and requirements. There are a set number of guns allocated.

I'm just hoping that there is no requirement among the artillery participants to be 'certified' by that group that teaches the farby load by detail gun drill as was attempted at the 150th Manassas event.
-Michael Patrick

[Anders]

Michael...

DITTO.

As to what others have said, I believe the old adage, if you are not part of the solution....

You can finish that one!

Pards,

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Oh, I'm not touching that one, but can anyone object to crossed rammers during a misfire so the other branches of service know to avoid being in front of the gun?

[Artyman]

Gentlemen,

None of the certifiable safety based drills are authentic. They have asked us to use the NPS drill at MmM. It's diff from NCWAA and Fed Reserve. We Arty guys know that. I for one will still cross rammers if we have a miss fire. That's the skinny of it. We had a miss fire near us at Shiloh and the crew did that NPS missfire response. Doug Taylor went over and reeducated them. They crossed their rammers. I was satisfied with that. The world did not end and nobody got hurt.

Harry

[Jeffrey Cohen]

What is the NPS response for a misfire?

[Artyman]

Jeffrey,

Here is a link to the NPS drill. It is chapter V missfire proceedure. You will see that it is less than satisfying. They have two levels. Level 1 presumes the gun can be made to fire. The wait is 30 seconds. Crew stays in "ready" position. No rammer signal at all. They reprime after a proceedure is followed. If after the third try it still missfires, then you go to Level two, which requires removing the gun from the field and removing charge.

Have fun reading this!

Harry


http://www.nps.gov/foun/parkmgmt/upl...-12-14-2-2.pdf

[redlegger1]

Jeffrey,

Here is a link to the NPS drill. It is chapter V missfire proceedure. You will see that it is less than satisfying. They have two levels. Level 1 presumes the gun can be made to fire. The wait is 30 seconds. Crew stays in "ready" position. No rammer signal at all. They reprime after a proceedure is followed. If after the third try it still missfires, then you go to Level two, which requires removing the gun from the field and removing charge.

Have fun reading this!

Harry


http://www.nps.gov/foun/parkmgmt/upl...-12-14-2-2.pdf

I'm not saying the 3rd failed primer drill isnt odd reading that nps link (requiring syringes, fire estinguishers, face guards, etc), but I didn't see anything requiring the removal of the gun from the field unless I missed something.

While this is subjective when talking about authenticity as using the worm at all is pretty much not being authentic, the NPS drill only suggests worming the piece if no foil is taken out by the sponge. My opinion is that worming between every firing is necessary when using foil rounds. Apart from that, the drill didnt seemed fine in my (admittedly very) quick review of it.

[Artyman]

NPS drill states that in type 2 misssfires the gun is removed from the field, not for type 1.

I have witnessed a certain flexability in the recent arty drill inspection tolerances at both Manassas and BGA Shiloh. Though there may have been a guideline, Skip was a gentleman about it in the Confederate park at Manassas (though some who were gigged by him might not agree ), and the fellow who inspected us at Shiloh did not even question our use of NCWAA drill. I think, redlegger, and I presume that you will agree, that all these accepted drills are safe....whether authentic or not, and safety being first and foremost in our agenda we need only determine that a certified drill of some nature is being followed. I have worn the inspector hat at many events and I've been firing cannons since 1973. I have seen crews who set off their guns with priming powder and a cigar. I have seen units use baggies for cartridges. I have seen carriages so loose and worn that the guns could not be moved. I've seen barrels made of water pipe wrapped in cable and body filler. I've seen crews made up of Boy Scouts with the only guy over 12 being the Scoutmaster. These are the things we need to look for. However, that being said, I think the NPS drill leaves out an important safety signal to the advancing infantry when they leave out the crossed rammer part. It's the only drill that does.

The worm needs to be used every time.

But, in fairness, I also think the NPS drill comes closer to period authentic than the others.

Respectfully,

Harry

[billwatson2]

As the complete idiot most likely to wander in front of a hot gun while thinking about anything but artillery, I'm all in favor of the crossed rammers. Something deep in my brain takes note of that visual signal every time.

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Should we mention the posers that like to falldown and play dead only 10 yards in front of the cannon? When thy wouldn't move for our safety officer, I had my battery run up and help drag them off the field. Unfortunately just when we cleared our safety zone, cease fire was blown.