Q. What is the difference between shrapnel and canister?
A. Shrapnel is composed of a number of spherical balls in a cast-iron case, of the usual shape of a projectile, and has a bursting-charge in either the point or the base to scatter these balls. Canister is in a cylindrical case and has no bursting-charge. Shrapnel has a point combination fuse and is thus readily distinguished from all other projectiles. (See Fig. 43.)
Q. What is the difference between cored shot and shell?
A. Cored shot have hollowed centers, as also have shell, but in the latter the hollow is much larger. Owing to the recent manufacture of a suitable bursting-charge, cored shot can be filled with it and used the same as shell.
Q. What is the general color of the main body of all projectiles?
A. Black.
Q. How is the kind of metal of which it is composed marked?
A. By a painted band around the center, half-caliber wide.
Q. How is the degree of armor-piercing capacity marked?
A. By a greater or lesser portion of the head being painted with the color representing the metal of the projectile.