Identification requested: Japanese or British projectile?

[ogreve]

Hi,

I may have the possibility to acquire the shown projectile, that may be of Japanese manufacture. The seller doesn't know for sure, and gave the following information: "Made of steel. Measures about 8 1/2 inches tall. Measures 82mm or 3.25 inches in diameter. Weights about 5 3/4 pounds. The piece that unscrews on the bottom (might be part of the fuse) is treaded opposit of normal (turning left tightens, turning right loosens).".

The right hand thread may indeed indicate Japanese manufacture, but perhaps British projectiles used right hand thread too?

If it is Japanese, I'm thinking it's pretty old (WW1 or before?).

Does anyone recognise it? It doesn't seem to have driving bands, and no mention is made of markings...

Possibly a very old projo? Or perhaps a nose piece of something, like a rocket???

Calibre and era wise, perhaps a British 18Pr comes close???

The item doesn't have any marking stamped into the body. Perhaps someone knows which countries used projectiles without such stampings AND which countries used right hand threads on ammo. Any info/thoughts are very welcome!

Cheers,
Olaf

 

[Weasel]

Hi Ogreve,
That's an interesting piece, i am sorry i cant add any info for you at the moment, the absence of a driving band would suggest that it is part of a perhaps a rocket assisted round or perhaps a mortar. Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable members can give you a positive id.
Best regards Weasel.

 

[Chris 42 RQ]

Aircraft bomb front end

Weasel you forgot to mention aircraft bomb in addition to your possible uses.
Front end of an aircraft bomb perhaps?
If not aircraft then I think Weasel may have the correct useage.

 

[HAZORD]

The long fuze with slit across the tip, fuze adapter, and the shape of the fuze and adapter as they meet the projectile body looks exactly like 3 inch Russian from WWI.

 

[ogreve]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies so far!
Regarding the 3" Russian projectile: does anyone have any pictures of that?
Also: did the Russians make use of right hand threads (as the projo in question apparently has)?

Cheers!
Olafo

 

[HAZORD]

I will take some photos of my Russian 3 inch. Give me a few hours.

 

[HAZORD]

Photos of two Russian 3 inch projectiles plus a fuze. The entire projectile and fuze is 12 inches long. The portion of the fuze that scews into the projectile is 7 inches long. These projectiles are made by boring out solid bar stock. That is why they use a fuze adapter for HE projos. The U.S. made millions of these to ship to Europe in WWI.

Fuze screws in Right hand thread. Bottom of fuze inside the projectile is left hand thread, fine thread like in your photo. Other characteristics the same with yours:

Fuze radius does not match adapter radius (arrows in photo 2). Fuze adapter has two spanner cuts and a hole for a screw to retain the fuze (arrows in photo 5).

It looks to me like your photos are of the first 8 inches of a 3 inch russian projectile.

 

[ogreve]

Hi,

Thanks for the excellent answer and pictures!
I agree that it looks a LOT like the front part of those Russian projectiles. Too close for comfort, so I'd better not go for it on the odd chance that it turns out to be Japanese after all.

Thanks for the ID; this saves me some Dollars and effort, that can be much better spent on true Japanese items!

Cheers,
Olafo

 

[HAZORD]

You are welcome Olafo! It was also the wrong color for Japanese.