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Pleas help I.D ing this 105 M/M Projectile

R

Rapidrob

Member
I just got this 105 M/M round and other than it's Time/Super Quick Fuze there are no markings on the shell. It appears to be some sort of Leaflet or Star Shell. The base plate is screwed in. ( for loading?) The date on the fuze is 1969, Viet Nam time frame.
I have enclosed photo's. Thanks for your help.

Baseofcasing.jpg
1055.jpg
1056.jpg
1054.jpg
 
Rob, That is in fact a M84B1 Leaflet Round as you surmised. It is found on page 3-31 & 3-32 in the TM 43-0001-28 Ammunition for Guns, Howitzers..... I've sent you a PM from the IAA with my info so I can try to send you the pub. Cheers, Bruce.
 
RR

Firstly, superb photog skilz. AND mastering the pic downloading as the FNG ! Awesome.
Go Navy!!! :captain:

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to enlighten you about the shell. In the mean time, and in consideration of your past experience(s), I'll ask YOU a question. Re: the fuze setter. I have three of these horseshoes. ID (2" +/-) is the same on all. Is there a wrench/extension handle for these pieces? Any documentation on such things? Always wondered about the details. If there is a handle, I need one.

Only the silver one has markings. Raised/cast.

Rick

Fuze, Setter 001.jpg Fuze, Setter 002.jpg
 
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The "key" is just a hand applied device for tightening the fuze into the shell body and this is done by hand only.

The fuze "setting" key can be a similar device or a much more complicated design.

See pictures of Fuze setting key for M14 which is used to "set" the fuze and then see the fuze keys used to locate the L series fuzes on the projectile of 105mm and 155mm shell.


Very nice items both of you and thanks for showing us.
Rapidrob, just as an aside a number of "Drill" rounds for the 105 mm HOW turned up for sale a number of years ago over here and the colour used was very similar to your projectile-sorry but picture is now second in line!
 

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Back to the gist of the thread, I did a little reading up on the fuze. The M501A1 is listed as being specific to Smoke, illum. and GP. It's an M500 which lacks a booster/gaine. So, if it is "original" to the body, well, it's smoke or illum. I have a sectioned illum round that pretty much matches the profile of yours. Also an HE one, that's real close to the same, but has a solid bottom. WAG = illum.

Rick

ordhut mix 006 (Small).jpg
 
Slick

Back in the day, we had a fuze setting wrench in each ready room or ready locker. The only time we used them was to set a fuze for a one-off, such as a Star Shell. Otherwise, the automatic fuze setter was used. The wrench looked a lot like the one Chris showed - a big spanner, if you will. The wrench was also supposed to be used to un-set a fuze which had not yet been fired. Since none of us liked doing that, although it was supposedly perfectly safe, we would simply fire the projectile and not have to deal with it.

All USN projectiles on board ship came with the fuze installed and staked in so we didn't have the "keys" as far as I remember.

Not too long ago there was a photo posted somewhere on BOCN that showed an artillery position somewhere in Afghanistan. It showed a projectile on the ground with a fuze installation tool that had a long extension handle on it. You could torque down on it to tighten the fuze, although centrifigal force would probably keep the fuze in place when it's fired. Right-hand thread - right hand rifleing twist. (That's why base fuzes had left hand threads. And the AUX DET fuzes too.)

Anyway, if you could find that photo you can see what the handles looked like. I can't help any more than that.

Ray
 
And here's that TM info that Bruce alluded to over on the IAA discussion board.

Shell, 105mm, Illumination.jpg Shell, 105mm, Illumination 001.jpg Shell, 105mm, Illumination 002.jpg
 
Sorry, I should have specified the date of my pub. Mine was the 1984 version with those pages. Ray, for yours, you'll have to look up the M84B1 Leaflet round. Probably somewhere around that Illumination (for you Navy types, Star) Round. Cheers, Bruce.
 
Forgot to mention, The pub has the location of the spanner holes for the base plate. To answer your question from IAA, I don't know of a source for them, but any machine shop with a decent machinist could probably crank one our for a negligible cost. Cheers, Bruce.
 
There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding components and terms for accessories and tools in this thread. The "keys" that have been pictured might be used to lightly twist fuzes into projectiles, but their intended purpose is to provide a shoulder on the ogive section of the projectile for the shipping tube to engage, so the projectile fuze doesn't get slammed into the end of the tube or anything else, if the shippind tube is dropped point-end down. They can also be found on fuzed 2.75 inch rocket warheads that have the fuzes cemented in place. They keep the pointy end of the warhead centered in the cardboard shipping tube and protect the fuze from impact. Since they are cheap metal and open-ended, they will spread out and fall out of the grooves on a fuze, if any type of torque is put on them. They are only present on warheads shipped in cardboard tubes, most often with fuzes installed, but also with plugs installed in the fuzewell.

Fuze wrenches are the tools used to install or remove fuzes from projectiles, and torque them in place before firing.

Fuze setters come a variety of types and are used to set the time from firing to fuctioning on time fuzes. They can be hand operated, battery powered, completely automatic, mechanical or electrical.
 
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John

Great info on the "horseshoes". Mine came in a lot of fuze wrenches, hence the assumption.

Rick
 
Here the data for the M84B1 leaflet projectile
 

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Yep, that's the projectile for sure. There are no holes for shear plugs at the base. Is there a member who may have the screw in base plug ?
 
bacarnal said:
Forgot to mention, The pub has the location of the spanner holes for the base plate. To answer your question from IAA, I don't know of a source for them, but any machine shop with a decent machinist could probably crank one our for a negligible cost. Cheers, Bruce.
Click to expand...

Rob, The leaflet round was one of the few in the inventory that didn't have a payload already inserted. The leaflets were usually made in theater then loaded into the round, hence the screw in baseplate. As I mentioned above, they are hard to come by if not impossible, but a fairly decent machinist should be able to fabricate one for you. SInce it is on the bottom, it should have reverse threads on the plug also. Cheers, Bruce.
 
One thing you would need to make sure of, is that the threads are good on the inside of your projectile. those threads are very tiny and there isn't much threaded area. They can get dinged up very easily.
 
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