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US M66A1 Base Detonating Fuse for 75mm and 3 inch AP Rounds

M

M8owner

Well-Known Member
I added this to my collection a year ago. I have never seen another, so I thought that I would attach a few photos for your viewing pleasure. It has no markings of any kind.

BD Fuse M66A1 - 3.jpgBD Fuse M66A1.jpgBD Fuse M66A1 - 2.jpg
 
Do me a favor and tell me which way does this fuze screw in right tight or left lose? Am in a disagreement with a friend about this, as many APHE rounds are found in the field with the fuze missing and sometimes only a few meters from where the projo landed. Some say the3 fuze will unscrew during flight but I find that hard to believe
 
It is opposite standard thread. It screws into the projectile if you turn it counter-clock wise.
 
I have found a large number of projectiles with the fuzes partially unscrewed. Pretty much all U.S. fuzes are right hand thread for nose and left hand thread for tail.

My theory about the unscrewing of fuzes, is that the projectile and fuze are spinning. If the projectile encounters and object, like the ground, at a graze angle, so that the ground slows the projectile rotation without touching the fuze, then the inertia of the fuze that is still spinning unscrews it from the slower spinning projectile. It's physics!
 
HAZORD said:
I have found a large number of projectiles with the fuzes partially unscrewed. Pretty much all U.S. fuzes are right hand thread for nose and left hand thread for tail.

My theory about the unscrewing of fuzes, is that the projectile and fuze are spinning. If the projectile encounters and object, like the ground, at a graze angle, so that the ground slows the projectile rotation without touching the fuze, then the inertia of the fuze that is still spinning unscrews it from the slower spinning projectile. It's physics!
Click to expand...

On the nose. As an interesting side note, the soil seems to make a big difference. On ranges east of the Mississippi you see it less than west. In the sandy area of Ft. Irwin we would frequently find them half or more unscrewed on impact, maybe 10-12 with the fuze fully unscrewed and near the projo. Best guess is that the sand "grabs" better, stopping the spin more abruptly?
 
HAZ, great explanation! Subs, that makes sense. We have seen 37mm Mk I's do that in loamy soil and some of the guys were on the wrong rifling kick. Never made sense to me. Where I'm at now the M61's and M62's with the M66 fuzing seem to be found about 70-80% intact since the terrain is rocky and the rounds tended to ricochet much farther. Most still had the caulking seal around the fuze still in them. We have found a couple that the fuze was gone but, sure enough, the "D" filler was still as yellow as the day it was made. If anyone on this side of the pond has one (or two) extra M66's, I have a M62 and a 3" that need plugging:neutral:. Cheers, Bruce.
 
Bruce,

Its too bad you can't repurpose some of the fuzes you find in all those M61 and M62's that you find.

I never cease to be amazed at what you can find on a range. The projectiles with perfect fuzes that encountered rocks or something else on the ogive, so that the fuze was never touched, or 155mm flare projos with the shipping ring still installed.
 
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