Different Types of Artillery Shells

There are several types of artillery shells. Ball shells are round shells with a base. Ball shells can be single, double, triple or even quadruple break shells. A “break” is simply an explosion. So a single break shell produces one explosion, a double break shell (which is two ball shells on top of one another) produces two separate explosions, and so on. Ball shells generally contain up to 40 grams of pyrotechnic compound.

Unlike ball shells, canister shells are shaped like cylinders. They may or may not have a small base, as seen in the picture below. (The two shells to the left are canister shells, and there is a single, double and triple break ball shell to the right.) Canister shells are generally single break shells, and they can contain up to 60 grams of pyrotechnic compound.  Canister shells, since they can hold up to 60 grams of compound, can often be more powerful and produce bigger effects than ball shells.  Ball shells, however, have the advantage of having more perfectly shaped round break patterns.