Common Shell
"Common shell" designated early British explosive shells filled with "low explosives" such as "P Mixture" (gunpowder) and usually with fuzes in the nose. Common shells on bursting (they did not "detonate") tended to break into relatively large fragments which continued along the shell's trajectory rather than laterally. They had some incendiary effect.
In the late 19th century "Double common shells" were developed, lengthened so as to approach twice the standard shell weight, to carry more powder and hence increase explosive effect. They suffered from instability in flight and low velocity and were not widely used.
As at 1914, Common shells 6 inch and up were of cast steel, smaller shells were of forged steel for service and cast iron for practice. They were replaced by "Common Lyddite" shells in the late 1890s but some stocks remained as late as 1914.
In British service Common shells were typically painted black with a red band behind the nose to indicate the shell is filled.
Read more about this topic: List Of British Ordnance Terms
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“I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
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