This shell was patented in England by James Whitworth on April 23, 1855. A talented British engineer with an interest in screw threads, Whitworth turned his attention to arms production in the early 1850s and devised both cannon and shoulder arms with hexagonal bores instead of rifling grooves and lands, yielding extraordinary range and accuracy. Intended for use in the 3-pounder Whitworth rifle, this attractive shell has a smooth brown finish and retains its original brass shipping plug in the fuse aperture on the top. This is an early shell in that the rifling twist continues to a straight cut bottom. This straight cut was believed to contribute to unstable flight and was tapered on later shells. This was for use in the 3-pounder Whitworth rifle.

No 3-pounder Whitworth tubes are known to survive in the U.S., but Dickey and George illustrate a possibly-CS cast Type-II 1.7” shell, appearing to be excavated, and a Virginia-excavated British Type-I bolt (solid shot) indicating that some were indeed imported, though it was unclear at the time of their publishing in 1993 whether the imported ammunition included bolts and shells of both types. See Dickey and George, p. 322ff and The English Connection 423ff.

This is a good, complete example of a very scarce shell.  [jet] [ph:L]

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