  G315.4-2.3 is an extended shell supernova remnant (SNR) with some
characteristics of evolutionarily young remnants and some of older ones. To
further elucidate some of its characteristics, we present imaging and
polarimetry of this SNR at a frequency of 1.34 GHz with a resolution of 8
arcsec made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array.
  The indicators of youth are: Morphologically, the radio emission arises in a
smooth shell without the fine scale filaments seen in the optical. Many of the
optical filaments are Balmer dominated. Where measurable, the orientation of
the magnetic field appears to be radial with respect to the center of the
remnant. There may have been a supernova in that region in AD185.
  Indications of older age include: Particularly in RCW86, the bright optical
nebula in the southwestern corner of this extended SNR, but also in other
locations there are several filaments with bright [S II] emission
representative of older shocked filaments in radiative equilibrium. If the
remnant lies at the kinematical distance of 2.8 kpc, it has a diameter of 37 pc
which would be large for a remnant less than two thousand years old.
  The remnant seems to be expanding inside a cavity outlined by infrared
emission and so it could well be young and large. Where it is encountering the
walls of the cavity it is slowing rapidly and we observe the radiative
filaments. RCW86 itself is encountering a dense clump of material but may also
be the remains of a more compact lump of ejecta ploughing into the
surroundings.
