Russian ww1 ???????????????

[Gspragge]

Fired Shrapnel , Seems Russian in design -
some kind of dummy fuze in the style of a time fuze but solid.
heavy as the balls are still in place.

Can any one identify this, Well marked but not clear to me but it looks like 1915 dated.

 

[Gspragge]

Proof round ?

Inside using my scope, there was what looked like string and degraded fabric at the bottom in the powder chamber (likely rubbish stuffed inside years ago I thought, now I realize a cloth waste/wadding to hold the loose filling in place), upon tapping out came a sand and wood chip mix(coarse sawdust) this is in keeping with a correctly weighted inert filled proof shot or something of that type, maybe the dummy fuze is correct and original in this situation ?
As fired it was fired in such a way as to be recovered undamaged ---- more or less as I just
realized that the dummy fuze has impact scrapes typical of recovered fuzes and a stress crack
from impact which is plain to see in my first set of images, this to me validates the dummy fuze.

Has any one run across anything like this -

 

[Tmine35]

Markings are not Russian. USA supplied to Russia in 1917 75mm guns and ammo. Could be one of them.

 

[Gspragge]

Yes I agree, of U.S. manufacture, appears to be dated 1915, fired here I believe, but I have no
information on these, rather out of my regular line but one picks up what one finds over here-
(at least it wasn't a lamp this time :tinysmile_grin_t

I will need input of U.S. collectors on this one as to test firings and manufacturer etc.
Another similar example in a collection would be nice confirmation, the projectile type
is like others, the dummy fuze might be the rare thing here in connection to test firings.

I have deduced as much as I can from it and conclude that it is complete and original
as it sits.

Does any one have a diagram of this shrapnel projectile, I can only find HE drawing.

 

[Gspragge]

Markings

markings on the base and side.

 

[Nabob]

Here some interesting reading, especialy Chapter V

https://archive.org/details/manufacturearti02colvgoog

Bob

 

[Gspragge]

Thanks, that seems to describe what this is about. I had similar about HE , but not this.

It would appear then, though not mentioned that there were these solid dummy fuzes for test firing.

 

[Gspragge]

The last word -

I guess this is the exception to the rule of unfired is better. If this projectile wasn't fired and had that solid fuze it would just be a regular projectile
with the dummy test fuze on it. As it's fired (the sand fill just adds to this) it really is a test projectile --- so in this case fired is the only way to identify a test projectile
(if found in NA where they weren't fired otherwise) and all test projectiles would have been tested (and cleaned up scrapped recycled etc), hence the scarcity, presuming there is a scarsity.
This one was souvenired I guess and untouched since 1915. I don't think one could say "I have an unfired test projectile", that just wouldn't exist in this case since there is no manufactured difference in the unfired projectiles between test and the other 4950 of them (guessing a lot is 5000).

So if you are in North America and have a fired Russian Export projectile, you will want to find one of these solid fuzes for it if missing.

Thanks for all who helped out, a steep and fun learning curve.

 

[Gspragge]

Drawing of same from 1917 book

 

[HAZORD]

The U.S. made 76.2mm Russian projectiles and cases. Projectiles were "Bored from the bar" style of manufacture.