TonyE
HONOURED MEMBER RIP
Over on the IAA Forum somebody asked what the letters "SPG" meant in the title of the .303 inch Mark VIIG tracer, "Ctge. S.A. Tracer SPG .303 inch (VIIG) Mark I" and one suggestion was that it meant "Special Purpose G".
I know I am not the only .303 Anorak on this site so I thought I would post a copy of my reply to that thread here in the hope it may be of interest to others.
To the best of my knowledge, no documentation has been unearthed so far to explain the British nomenclature for special pupose rounds such as "Tracer SPG".
With regard to the suffix/prefix codes (B for incendiary, G for tracer etc.) I am fairly confident that the theory I put forward in my .303 inch headstamp books is more or less correct, i.e. the code was derived from the first letter of the name (e.g. B for Buckingham) but if that was already in use then the last letter was used (e.g. K for Brock as B already used). If both the first and last letter were already used then the second letter was adopted (e.g. L for blank as both B and K were already used).
That is all very well, but it does not explain the "SPG" itself. It is very tempting to assume the explanation that it is "Special Purpose G", but the previous tracer was the Mark VIIT SPK. That cannot mean "Special Purpose K" because the "K" was the Brock round! Surely if the VIIG SPG was really "Special Purpose G" then the VIIT should have been "SPT"?
When I originally published my thoughts on the full list of codes I said "W" for Armour piercing was unknown, but I am now sure it comes from "Woolwich" to distinguish it from the Kynoch KAP round. Simialrly I listed "Q" for Proof as unknown, but since "P,R,O" and "F" were already used for other types it is possible that they simply took the next letter to "P" in the alphabet and used "Q".
I think a small prize should be offered for whoever finally finds the documentary proof of the origins of these codes!
Regards
TonyE
I know I am not the only .303 Anorak on this site so I thought I would post a copy of my reply to that thread here in the hope it may be of interest to others.
To the best of my knowledge, no documentation has been unearthed so far to explain the British nomenclature for special pupose rounds such as "Tracer SPG".
With regard to the suffix/prefix codes (B for incendiary, G for tracer etc.) I am fairly confident that the theory I put forward in my .303 inch headstamp books is more or less correct, i.e. the code was derived from the first letter of the name (e.g. B for Buckingham) but if that was already in use then the last letter was used (e.g. K for Brock as B already used). If both the first and last letter were already used then the second letter was adopted (e.g. L for blank as both B and K were already used).
That is all very well, but it does not explain the "SPG" itself. It is very tempting to assume the explanation that it is "Special Purpose G", but the previous tracer was the Mark VIIT SPK. That cannot mean "Special Purpose K" because the "K" was the Brock round! Surely if the VIIG SPG was really "Special Purpose G" then the VIIT should have been "SPT"?
When I originally published my thoughts on the full list of codes I said "W" for Armour piercing was unknown, but I am now sure it comes from "Woolwich" to distinguish it from the Kynoch KAP round. Simialrly I listed "Q" for Proof as unknown, but since "P,R,O" and "F" were already used for other types it is possible that they simply took the next letter to "P" in the alphabet and used "Q".
I think a small prize should be offered for whoever finally finds the documentary proof of the origins of these codes!
Regards
TonyE