Unknown 105mm Casing

[orcutteod]

Anybody ever seen a shell casing like this which is a split seam construction? Everything is made of steel and the case walls are anodized. At first glance I thought someone had to much time on their hands and fabricated the casing wall.

 

[highlandotter]

I believe I saw these in the early 50's. They were among the early efforts to make steel cases. The idea goes back to the 1870's when Hotchkiss made spiral would brass cases as they had not figured out how to draw brass to the size needed.

 

[orpheus72]

Orcutteod,

Your case is a spiral wrapped one.
There were 4 types of M14 cases of which the B3 and B4 were wrapped ones


Cartridge case: Model Matl Wt (1b) (approx)

M14 Brass 5.9
M14B1 Steel, Drawn 5.4
M14B3 Steel, 5 pc spiral wrap 4.7
M14B4 Steel, 3 pc spiral wrap 4.7

You can look in the TM 43-0001-28 for their usage.

 

[kahu1]

They are fairly common over here.
Note, they are not anodised finish,just a lacquered steel,a couple of variations i've seen are like this one and a dark brown lacquered finish.
Haven't seen any without some corrosion so they probably don't survive as well as the brass cases.

 

[orcutteod]

Relieved to hear the case is legit as always thanks for the info.

 

[Tony Williams]

I have a spiral-wrapped case for the experimental 50x330 Rheinmetall Supershot of the 1980s, which has always struck me as odd. Every other case of this calibre I've seen has been the standard drawn steel type.

 

[hasag]

American sheaths single use inexpensive, once fired the Vaniz burns and rust.

 

[hicky1300]

I have a Swedish made one . Laquered Steel- always struck me as odd!

 

[Nabob]

I believe I saw these in the early 50's. They were among the early efforts to make steel cases. /QUOTE]

Hallo,
the idea of wrought steel cases was, at least in Czech lands, pioneered by Ing. Pantoflicek of the Skoda factory, the development and production started as early as 1916 due to lack of resources in Austria-Hungary. After the war there were several types of these cases used with Czechoslovak armed forces. The production of such cases was underway during WW2 for Germany. Post 1945 cases for soviet guns were also made this way.
Bob

 

[highlandotter]

Thanks for your information from the Eurpean development. I only saw the US developement and we switched back to brass as soon as we could.

 

[Nabob]

We switched back to brass cases as soon as the weapons industry was destroyed by the popular president Havel and his sidekicks.
The Republics wealth ripped appart by new capitalist - ex communist breed of businessmen.
Well now we have the freedom to buy brass cases from our friends abroad

 

[HAZORD]

About 25 to 30 years ago, the U.S. experimented with trying to make spiral wrapped steel cases for the 105mm tank gun. An experimental lot was produced and test fired at Yuma Proving Ground, but they didn't give the performance that was needed for the tremendous pressures that were being generated to get the velocities they needed for the APFSDS-T rounds and others. So they continued on with the drawn steel cases. We were still making the drawn steel cases at Norris when I was working there in 88 and 89.

I also heard that that that someone had experimented in trying to make a wrapped case for the 8 inch Naval Rifles.

Norris had manufactured thousands of the wrapped steel 105mm Howitzer cases during Vietnam.

 

[orcutteod]

About 25 to 30 years ago, the U.S. experimented with trying to make spiral wrapped steel cases for the 105mm tank gun. An experimental lot was produced and test fired at Yuma Proving Ground, but they didn't give the performance that was needed for the tremendous pressures that were being generated to get the velocities they needed for the APFSDS-T rounds and others. So they continued on with the drawn steel cases. We were still making the drawn steel cases at Norris when I was working there in 88 and 89.

I also heard that that that someone had experimented in trying to make a wrapped case for the 8 inch Naval Rifles.

Norris had manufactured thousands of the wrapped steel 105mm Howitzer cases during Vietnam.

I was wondering if a 105mm tank wrapped case round would handle the pressure I guess not.

 

[hasag]

[h=1]105mm Howitzer shell M14B4 USGI [/h]

 

[bdgreen]

Large numbers of unused (not loaded or primed) 105mm M14B4 wrapped steel cases have shown up recently at gun shows here in the U.S. The primer pocket have been zapped with, I believe, a plasma cutter to protect us from those who just happen to posses a functional 105mm artillery piece in their garage :tinysmile_hmm_t:

KXO = Kisco Company Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.; 80 = 1980