Tank gun primer cartridges.

[Falcon]

I have acquired a couple of fired tank gun primer cases. They are smaller than the size that I usually see.

The larger size that I believe is used by the 120mm gun on the Challenger tank is 16.3 body diameter by 70mm length. The two that I have are 13mm body diameter by 64mm length.

One is headstamped "E" at below the primer, and the other is headstamped "11/82" above the primer and "A" below it. Are these British or made by another country, and what gun are they used for?

Thanks for any info.

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

Hello Falcon, could you post some photos of them? If the Challenger is like the Chieftain then it would not be a Primer but a Tube Vent Electric .625 Inch, or TVE for short. As the name implies, it is electrically fired. The more modern British tanks use such Tubes, whereas the 20 Pr tank gun used cartridge cases and therefore Primers in the cartridge cases. Other weapons that were in service that also used Tubes included the 8 inch Howitzer, 155 mm and 175 mm guns, basically all those types that used bagged propelling charges and not cartridge cases. As well as TVEs there were Tubes Vent Percussion, TVP for short.

 

[Falcon]

These are definitely electric tubes. .625" would be the larger type that I described as 16mm. Both of these tubes are the ones that look like a scaled up 7.62 NATO Cartridge case with a short neck and oversized extractor groove and rim.