Artillery Shells are individual fireworks shells that you shoot one at a time from a launch or mortar tube. They are typically 1.75” in diameter and can contain up to 60 grams of pyrotechnic composition. These fireworks shells come in either ball shells or canister shells. They can be one break or multiple breaks, and can contain one color and effect, or several different colors and effects.

There are several types of artillery shells, Ball Style or Cannister. 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.

Canister shells are shaped like cylinders. Canister Shells are generally single break shells, but some are double break or even rings affect. The length of a Canister shell will vary from 4 inches up to 7 inches. The length doesn’t specify more powder. All cannister shells cannot contain more than 60 Grams of pyrotechnic material.  So, any shell length greater than 5 inches would be needed for a special effect.