I’ve had this previously unidentified fuze item for many years and finally took it down off its shelf and started a new, in-depth research. It consists of a brass projectile nose adapter, a percussion unit, and a standard nose plug. I recollect being told that the whole unit was removed from a lead-coated 40-pr Armstrong projectile. Pictures are of the assembled unit, as well as the three individual items making up the unit.
I eventually found a drawing and details of the “fuze” in the ‘1897 8th Edition of The Treatise on Ammunition’ on pages 166 and 167. The description is given as “Primer, Fuze, Percussion, R.L., No. 7, Mark I, is for use with that fuze with 25-pr . M.L. and 40-pr. R.B.L. common shell”.
It seems that the ‘percussion unit’, as I named it, was in fact a primer (or gaine?) for use under a ‘standard’ No. 7 fuze in the two projectiles described previously.
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has drawings, photos or even actual examples of either of these two projectiles with their No. 7 Fuze and ‘Primer’. There may also be records or details of these items include with the Manuals for the two guns.
I eventually found a drawing and details of the “fuze” in the ‘1897 8th Edition of The Treatise on Ammunition’ on pages 166 and 167. The description is given as “Primer, Fuze, Percussion, R.L., No. 7, Mark I, is for use with that fuze with 25-pr . M.L. and 40-pr. R.B.L. common shell”.
It seems that the ‘percussion unit’, as I named it, was in fact a primer (or gaine?) for use under a ‘standard’ No. 7 fuze in the two projectiles described previously.
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has drawings, photos or even actual examples of either of these two projectiles with their No. 7 Fuze and ‘Primer’. There may also be records or details of these items include with the Manuals for the two guns.