Original .60 projectile?

[Hoeksel]

Today I found a USA .60 round from 1943. I was interested in the shell case that had a nice head stamp, so I bought it. The shown projectile came with it. Is it original? In my opinion it looks strange. The projectile is 69 mm long.

 

[bdgreen]

Hoeksel,

Information on your projectile is from History of Modern U.S. Military Small Arms Ammunition, Vol. 2, pages 180 - 181. Your .60 Cal. projectile appears to be one that is designated either BC-2 or BC-4 and is from a series of Base Cup projectiles designed and tested at Frankford Arsenal from 1941 to 1944. These types of projectiles have gilding metal base cups and no jacket for the forward portion of the projectile i.e. an exposed steel core makes up the majority of the projectile. The multipart projectile design was recommended based up earlier research at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

If I had to guess I would say your projectile is a BC-2 with the base cup swaged onto the steel core. The U.S. experimented with many different projectile types for the .60 for over 10 years before dropping the .60 in favor of the 20mm.

Take a look here and note the 3rd cartridge shown: http://www.cartrology.com/browse-ammunition.php?Caliber=.60&page=1. The projectile tip is painted and this probably designates the alloy for the steel used to make the forward potion of the projectile.

Not rare (at least not in the U.S.) but still a very nice round to have, particularly with a 1943 dated case.

Brian

 

[Hoeksel]

Thanks for the thorough reply and explanation! Good to know it is an original projectile.