Dear all – I have a puzzler here – will hopefully post a pic tomorrow, but in any event, following our BP Defiant dig a wee while ago we have been looking (and making safe the ammo.
In taking the head off one of the rounds (1940 dated) the head had a screw in the rear of it.
One of our enterprising members then sectioned one of the rounds – the head is odd, FMJ then lead, then a ball bearing, with a gap to the rear presumably for explosive then a small screw in the rear of the head – presumably these things were hand made…
the bottom of the cases are pretty grotty so no MK identifiable though the year is clear – anyone seen these things before? It would seem that the heads at very least were hand made?!
Any gen -(Andy?) gratefully received – have dug many thousands of rounds of .303 up before but never seen anything like this!
All the best
Ben
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 15th May 2008 at 16:25
Cheers all- familiar with the phosphorous .50 cals, the incendiary 20mm and the very high explosive 37mms!!
Never seen a de wilde before, which goes to show three things.
1) its doesnt matter how long you’ve been doing aviation archaeology you dont know everything
2) always respect live ordnance
3) if in doubt ask people older, wiser and less hairy than yourself!
Thanks again!
TT
By: merkle - 14th May 2008 at 18:00
yep, nasty things them, if you find one ,bury it where you found it, its not worth taking home, same goes for those 20mm shell heads with Brass tips,
look nice but i have been told they are the same, (expolosive) have known of 7.92 jerry rounds to Crumble and “cook off” as well, as the jerry heads seem to be predomanantly Iron, carbon steel, thats quite thin, if one breaks in the open air, could give you a very nasty Burn,
and as for Photo Flash Bombs, well we wont even go there :diablo:
By: Arabella-Cox - 14th May 2008 at 17:22
What ever you do, don’t try to unscrew the screw…..or you might be taking Tom out of Texan Tomcat 😀
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 14th May 2008 at 17:18
http://cartridgecollectors.org/cmo/cmo07feb.htm
Incendiary B Mk IV in fact! ‘short lived use’ so no wonder not seen it before!
Marvellous, you learn something new each day!
Ta everso
TT
By: TEXANTOMCAT - 14th May 2008 at 17:12
Cheers Tony,
never come across one before- after 19 years of digging! or maybe we did but didnt separate the head!
Thought de wilde bullets (of which I’ve heard but didnt realise this was it) were incendiaries though!
Will be careful and V grateful for the gen, found loads on t’internet!
ATB
Ben
By: Nashio966 - 14th May 2008 at 17:01
christ! they sound evil!
By: Rocketeer - 14th May 2008 at 17:00
Tracer round….
By: Rocketeer - 14th May 2008 at 16:59
Dear all – I have a puzzler here – will hopefully post a pic tomorrow, but in any event, following our BP Defiant dig a wee while ago we have been looking (and making safe the ammo.
In taking the head off one of the rounds (1940 dated) the head had a screw in the rear of it.
One of our enterprising members then sectioned one of the rounds – the head is odd, FMJ then lead, then a ball bearing, with a gap to the rear presumably for explosive then a small screw in the rear of the head – presumably these things were hand made…
the bottom of the cases are pretty grotty so no MK identifiable though the year is clear – anyone seen these things before? It would seem that the heads at very least were hand made?!
Any gen -(Andy?) gratefully received – have dug many thousands of rounds of .303 up before but never seen anything like this!
All the best
Ben
PLEASE TAKE CARE BEN! These are de Wilde rounds they have picric acid and a small ball bearing in the nose which is explosive and are filled with phosphorous?! Which burns in air
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May 14, 2008 at 4:37 pm