Ball and Chain and Grapeshot. When do you use it?

[Killick]

I like to get in close for my for my 1st shot and use double ball (preferably a stern rake) then after I use single ball due to reloading time, I also use chain shot as the action dictates. Have not use canister yet will have to make an effort to do so. Also I never fire at long range.

[SeaDog7]

As a newbie, I have yet to use chain shot, but have used grapeshot in support of boarding actions. We haven't used the carronades rule yet, so I will bring that up at our game in 2 weeks and see if we want to try it out.

I just finished reading "Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron" by Ronald D. Utt which is about the War of 1812 and an excellent book. An interesting point he brought up was the use of double shot in carronades and their general ineffectiveness. The extra ball reduced the effectiveness of the smaller powder charge used in the carronades and the double shot often failed to penetrate the scantlings of the target ships, often lodging in the scantlings themselves or bouncing off (see page 256). Something to think about!

[Bligh]

The Carronades are not allowed to double shot in the rules, negating their power in my opinion. However, as there are numerous references in Captains reports of double and even triple shotted broadsides, I always allow double shot to be loaded along with the normal guns loading time for single. However, if you adopt the rule for discharging every turn, then I only allow single shot to be used, as they would not have time to reload double shot even with the shorter barrels.
Rob.