Info please

[hicky1300]

Meant to add this to other request so apologies for my ineffieciency!
Standard brass Knynoch made .50 cal case 1979
But - has unstruck primer with a hole drilled in the side cas just above the head. I thought this unusual as it appeared to have a gash piece of nylon/plastic tube stuffed in the top with a bit of square steel bar also jammed in the centre!!
I tried to pull out the nylon but it would not budge so I trimmed it back to get to the bar this pulled out & I then noticed that the nylon was not a tube but a `projectile` as it had a base & it was well crimped in.
I now think that this may have been some sort of experimental round & that the reason for drilling it was to remove the propellant.
Any ideas?

 

[Chris 42 RQ]

Yes Hicky you are spot on with your assumption that it is an experimental round.

Strictly speaking it is not really an experimental item as the round itself is a fairly standard test round for testing many things such as light armour and windscreens.
These rounds are made locally in establishments for testing the "impact" that fragments of Missiles/Shells will have on targets.

The item being projected is usually a square steel cube or a ball bearing or Tungsten ball/Cube along with a host of other items.

If you examine the case very carefully you may even find some traces of the fillers information stating what velocity it was designed to achieve along with the powder details.

And as you say the hole will have been made to inert the round.

Also they come in all sizes with the largest one I saw being for a 6 pounder 57 mm Gun.

Nice item to acquire and fairly hard to obtain-every experimental collection should have some of these!

 

[hicky1300]

Cheers for that Chris.
Unable to make out any more markings but I do know this came from an MOD proofing Range.