18 Pounder, Mark 2

[ray_thomas@iprimus.com.au]

Hi from Australia,
I hope you can assist me to correctly identify 2 of 18 pounder, mark 2 shells in my possession?
As seen from the attached photo's, 1 of the shells I believe has been loaded and fired once, I guess due to stress fractures seen in the head, this one has been stamped 1917, I suppose date of manufacture.
The other has been fired I believe 3 times, has been stamped with an "S" being case tested, "A" inside a circle meaning annealed.
Thank-you
Ray

 

[ben2000]

Lovely 18pdrs

Hello Ray,

your information is pretty much correct. The first case was made by the American Locomotive Company in august 1915. It was filled and fired and then refilled (I think) 4 more times (so fired 5 times in total). The A is an annealing mark (this case appears to have annealed twice as there are two marks next to the A) and the S is where it was tested for hardness using a Scleroscope. The primer is dated november 1918.
The second case was made by the Elswick Ordnance Co in 1917. It appears that there may be a second F over the first which would suggest it had been refilled a second time but there are no annealing marks so I'll leave that up to the decision of another collector.

All in all two very nice 18pdr cases, especially the American one, im not jealous (if you ever get bored of them i'll give them a home!)

Regards

Ben.

 

[ray_thomas@iprimus.com.au]

Hi Ben,
Many thanks for your information and knowledge, I appreciate your comments and as if I would get bored with them, I know that you would appreciate them as I do.
Thanks again
Ray

 

[TimG]

I would suggest that the first case was actually made by Westinghouse Air Brake who were sub-contracting to ALCO. Their logo is beneath ALCO

The case was refurbished at sometime by Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co. (Y RY)

The primer, I suspect, was made by Platt Bros & Co, Hartford Works, Oldham.

The primers were filled by B.S., whose identity escapes me at this moment.

Regards

TimG