乜嘢叫萄葡彈？

葡萄彈, 叫做grapeshot, 係以前大炮既彈藥一種
因為由一群鐵球組成,個樣似葡萄, 所以叫葡萄彈
射到目標時鐵球會爆開,做成進一步傷害
通常係海軍用既武器。

an antipersonnel weapon consisting of a cluster of small iron balls shot from a cannon

2007-06-28 09:53:56 補充：
Grapeshot can also be improvised from chainlinks, shards of glass, rocks, etc. The balls assembled resemble a cluster of grapes (hence the name).

2007-06-28 09:54:08 補充：
On firing, the balls spread out from the muzzle at high velocity, giving an effect similar to a shotgun but scaled up to cannon size. Upon impact with a person, debris could go flying and become secondary projectiles.

2007-06-28 09:54:15 補充：
This effect was especially devastating against densely massed troops, where high-velocity bone fragments could greatly magnify the number of casualties.

2007-06-28 09:54:41 補充：
Cannons would fire solid shot to attack enemy artillery and troops at longer range (although the Shrapnel round was invented to increase the effect of grape shot at a distance), and switch to grape when they or nearby troops were charged.

2007-06-28 09:55:01 補充：
Since the passing of muzzle loaded cannon, and the introduction of the fixed round, grape has been replaced by canister or case round, where a brass cartridge contains the shot.

萄葡彈這名詞出現於拿破倫時代，是大炮彈藥一種，專用以對付步兵，所以估計應像手熘彈之外貌，由很多細小彈丸壓成，當利用大炮射到對方陣營時，爆發出很多彈丸，以殺傷最多敵人。註﹕其實當時之炮彈主要以鐵製造，內裹會否內藏火藥就不得而知。