This is one of those relics that you don't encounter very often. It's an exploded section of an iron Confederate 3" Rifle Cannon Barrel. This is the muzzle section and has a very cool flared muzzle. This example was dug many, many years ago in one of the 1862 Seven Days Battlefields , near Richmond Virginia on private land . This one is a very early find and it's pristine condition and crisp detail attest to it being early dug. Please note the multiple rifling lands and grooves, which suggests Southern manufacture as the US 3" Ordinance Rifle and 3" Parrott Rifle only had three wide lands and grooves. If you look closely in the pictures, please note the lathe marks on the barrel can still be seen, where the barrel was machined smooth after casting. The Confederate Armies had problems with many of their iron guns bursting, due to the less refined nature of the iron being used in the Southern foundries. This cruder form of cast iron was strong, but too rigid and brittle with no elasticity, giving the Confederate Artillerymen little to no warning before bursting. The Union Army had problems too ,but not nearly as often. Tredegar foundry in Richmond Va especially had these issues with their iron guns being sent to the field. The flared muzzle on this piece, in my opinion, looks very similar to the iron Tredegar 6 pounder gun profile . Early in the war, Tredegar was ordered to cease production of the 6 pounders , due to their ineffectiveness on the battlefield and bore them for 3" rifles instead. Also it resembles a Nobles Brothers, Rome Georgia gun . This piece came out of the nationally known artillery collection of Mr Jerry Keyes. And has resided there for the last 40+ years. Jerry was a close friend of the late Mr Tom Dickey, co-author of the book , " Dickey and George's " "Field Artillery Projectiles of the American Civil War " . There are several pieces in Jerry's collection that came from Dickey and there's a good chance this one did as well, but I'm not for sure. Here's your chance to own a real Confederate Cannon, without spending 100's of thousands of dollars. 😁

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