British 105mm Field Gun / Howitzer Shells Ident Required.

[roadrunner404]

Afternoon All,
I have 3 x 105mm British shells that I have a few questions about & wondered if anyone could help out please, as follows:


The first photo shows two HE shells, the LH one being 450mm long & the RH one is 474mm long. The driving bands are the same profile & width as are the distances from driving band to base & angle/length of the boat tailed section. Whilst the stamped details on the shorter one are a bit pitted from rust, they both appear to be for the 105mm Field Gun L118:
1. Are these two different versions of the HE shell for this gun?
2. The longer one is stamped with '105MMFDHEL50A1' & I'm guessing that L50A1 is the model of this one but what would be the 'L' series number for the short one, if it has one?
3. Fuze details for each one?
4. Would they both use the 105 x 326R (RW297) cartridge?


The third shell is a fired smoke round, 398mm long with a 23mm wide driving band; the details as shown in the photos


1. The stamped description states "105MM HOW" instead of "FD"; is this for the L118 Series as well or another gun altogether?
2. What fuze would be fitted?
3. What would be the cartridge used?

Many thanks for any assistance in advance. Regards, Ian.

 

[TimG]

The L31 was the earlier HE round. The L50, I believe is the later "Improved Ammunition" (IA) and has slightly greater capacity and is of the "Insensitive Munition" variety.

The smoke round is for the L5 pack howitzer, the forerunner of the L118. (might also have been for the L119, which was a L118, modified to fire L5 ammunition)

TimG