Is this a German-made casing for a Russian 7,62cm Model 1910 Putilov fortress cannon?

[Tony without Kaiser]

Help! Not sure on this one. It at first glance looks like a German 7,7cm leichte Feld Kanone (l.F.K.) 96, however, it is smaller, being 76mm calibre, 90mm at the base and only 225mm tall. The oddest thing, is it has a Marine pattern primer, but it is not Marine marked, and dated 1914, so its early.

I think (?) its a Russian 7,62cm Model 1910 Putilov fortress cannon casing. In 1914 the Germans captured enormous numbers of Russian 7.62 cm Model 1910 Putilov fortress cannons and Krupp was told to adapt them for use as infantry guns. They mounted the barrel and breech of the Russian guns on a new solid box-trail carriage with two narrow seats behind the gunshield, facing to the rear. Rheinmetall manufactured the cartridge casings, and this casing is marked R.h.M.F. Perhaps they used a Marine primer so these would not be confused with 7,7cm leichte Feld Kanone (l.F.K.) 96?

 

[charley777]

Tony, the dimensions of your case are consistent with the M1910 Putilov so that's probably what it's for.
Cannot explain the Marine marks...though it might be to do with coastal defence?

 

[Tony without Kaiser]

Thank you for the reply Charley. It has no Marine markings. What it has, is a large Marine pattern Primer. This is what is very odd, as those primers are only found on Marine casings. But all Marine casings have Kaiserliche-Marine markings.

Perhaps (?) this was done by Rheinmetall so these would not be confused with 7,7cm leichte Feld Kanone (l.F.K.) 96?

So it is looking more and more that this is in fact, a Rheinmetall manufactured cartridge casings for captured Russian 7,62cm Model 1910 Putilov fortress cannon.

 

[Alpini]

It's a shortened 75x278R for Krupp Fieldguns used by many different countries around the world. The primer is a Krupp Invention and because most german navy guns are from Krupp these cases also had Krupp primers (later designated C/12). The Rheinmetall headstamp has export layout - but I can't say for which country it was produced (to many are possible)