.9 inch Elswick case

[SG500]

The photograph shows a .9 Elswick case.
It is 198.5mm long and the rim diameter is 30.83mm.
Unfortunately I don't have a projectile for it but 2 types were made, a 6oz and an 8oz.
Limited trials were carried out in 1924 and after that no further development took place.
This round doesn't have a headstamp but it is understood it would be
0.9 inch
EOC
J
M
1918
The only information I can find on this round is in British small arms ammunition 1864-1938 (P Labbett). If anyone has any further information or even a spare projectile (I'm hopeing for a lot aren't I!) I'd be interested in hearing from them.
Dave.

 

[Gspragge]

What was this used for or intended for ?

I have never heard of it ??

 

[Falcon]

VERY nice case, I don't even want to know how much you paid for it.

There was also a .8 Elswick that was a rimless case tyoe.

 

[SG500]

Hi Falcon, I posted a picture of the .8 Elswick as follows

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/8-vickers-t29951.html

Its at the end of the .8 Vickers thread - Tony Williams referred to it so I put a picture on there.

Dave.

 

[Falcon]

Thanks for the photo, you have some really impressive rounds.

 

[SG500]

I have never heard of it ??

Hi, yes it is a bit of an obscure round.
To quote some more out of Peter Labbetts book:-

".......At the same time the Committe had its attention drawn to a .9 inch weapon and ammunition manufactured by the Elswick Ordnance Company, dating from the close of the 1914-1918 war. The existence of this gun was known elsewhere in the British military establishment in 1918, but not to the Ordnance Committe in 1923. The .9 EOC gun appears to have been a private venture and little or no records or data relating to is seem to have been held at Woolwich or elsewhere in the military organisation.
Having had their attention drawn to it, the Committee borrowed the gun and a limited quantity of .9 inch ammunition from Armstrong Whitworth (Elswick Ordnance Co.'s parent company) for a trial in 1924. Armstrong Whitworth sent the Ordnance Committee four ammunition drawings of the .9 inch ammunition:-

Design M.23,103 Covering a 6oz steel shot
Design M.38,605 Covering an 8oz steel shot
Design M.33,297 Covering the cartridge case
Design M.29,884 Covering a percussion primer

Trials with the .9 inch EOC gun and ammunition were limited and were restricted to 1924, the gun then being returned to Armstrong Whitworth, and neither gun nor ammunition featured in future trials.

The 6oz projectile achieved a muzzle velocity, when fired at Woolwich, of between 2800 and 2950 feet per second."