Would this be a 75mm or 76mm?

[Kilroy]

Hello again all,

I have here a projectile of American make most probably, and after a bit of researching here
I have come to the idea that it is probably a 76mm projectile. I has little stamping on it, and no stenciling
remains if there was any to begin with, but the goldenrod yellow color is a bit unusual.

The rolled stamping that can be read is as follows and is pictured but is not easily read:

LOT 2292 - 5 F.A. <--- THE "5" looks stamped by hand because it is not aligned precisely with the F.A.
3AAM42
E.D.B

I would estimate it's weight w/o a fuse at 7-8 lbs, and it's length is 8.5 inches long , also no fuse.

It is plain solid backed, no boat tail, and has no tracer or base fuse accommodations.

It has the later type driver band of copper with 3 lands and two grooves, and is 1 inch in width. It also has a
small brass set screw abut 3/4 inch dwn from the top, most likely to affix the fuse solidly after screwing it in.
It accepts a standard fuse thread, whatever that is.

It is rather small for a caliber of this size, so I wonder a bit about this little runt. Anybody out there know it's
pedigree?

Thanks
Walt

 

[shelldude]

Hello Walt,

You have an early WWII painted U.S. 3-inch/76mm M42 HE projectile. These shells were fired from a variety of different guns including AA, tank, tank destroyer & Naval guns. In the AA mode, the shell would have the M43 variety mechanical time fuze attached instead of the point detonating fuze that's on your projectile. The yellow color was used on HE ordnance before changing to the olive drab that's show in my photograph.

Best regards,

Randall

 

[Kilroy]

Hi Randall,Thanks for the ID, certain things you said clicked with things I have read ( the early 90mm AAA projectiles were also painted yellow.... it make sense that this code would carry over to other calibers as well for quick identification...) but did not make the obvious connection between them. Also, I had supposed that the wider driving band was a development that came later. I learned from your reply that the wide driver band was not something from later in the war, but was in use from the beginning.So , in this I get it that this was a somewhat generic all purpose HE projectile that had been separated off at some point for AAA use by painting it the color code yellow of it's time.Interestingly, when I bought this on Ebay ( somehow, miraculously it got through! ) it came with a badly beaten up fuse, whole but completely gutted and beat up, but the essential graduated vernier timing marks were clearly visible , and indeed it did identify itself as " MECH TIME FUSE M43A " as you indicated! I had considered this just a badly beaten fuse of convienience to stick on there to make it more sellable, but in reality was indeed the correct fuse for a AAA projectile to be fitted with.The seller had no idea they were selling something correct, they had bought the contents of a house, but whoever owned it *DID* know what was correct for this type. have learned quite a bit!

I just took a few shots of the fuse, as you can see it's seen better days.

Walt

 

[HAZORD]

Kilroy,

Your projectile which Randall has identified is actually the 3rd model of HE projectile for the U.S. Army antiaircraft and seacoast guns. The first model was longer with a smaller rotating band as you had originally thought. Right around the start of WWII the 3 inch antiaircraft guns went through a redesign. The rifling twist was changed to a faster twist, which placed more stress on the rotating band. Therefore, the rotating band was increased in size from approximately 1/2 inch to the size of the one on your projectile. Your projectile was not fired in the older twist barrels. Also, when they went to the band size on your projectile, they shortened the bottlenecked cartridge case slightly, so the front of the rotating band would hit the same spot in the chamber. The army then developed the M-10 tank destroyer which used the same cartridge case and would have used your projectile for their HE rounds. It was also used in the 76mm gun on the Super Sherman tank, which used a straight case. You can actuall see the rounds in the Movie Kelly's Heros.

As far as color code goes, all Army explosive ordnance was painted yellow with black lettering, up till 1942. Rockets, bombs, grenades, projectiles, land mines, etc., not just antiaircraft rounds. At that time, explosive loaded ordnance went to Olive drab main color with yellow lettering.

 

[raymeketa]

That small brass screw is not typical of an HE projectile, is it?? It's more often found in a practice projectile when the fuze is not staked in.

Anybody?

Ray

 

[shelldude]

Hello Ray,

Of the three WWII HE M42 projectiles I have, two have the set screw opening. The set screw feature was also used on the WWII U.S. 75mm HE M48 projectile (see photograph).

Best regards,

Randall