Vietnam era white star parachute casing

[dano1917]

Another one of Dano's bone head questions. Pictured is a 40mm WHITE STAR PARACHUTE M583A1. there is no headstamp but stamped close to the bottom of the casing is LOT MA-4-1 5-72 40MM M-195 ACN-21-1-4-72 LOT KC-4-4-04 73. Is this a military use star shell casing?? Dano

 

[EODGUY]

Dano, what you have is a fired round from the US 40mm grenade system that would have been fired from the M-79 shoulder fired or M203 under barrel grenade launchers. Someone has replaced a fired body into the case since the two aluminum rotating band/gas check seals are engraved. The round was intended to provide the individual soldier with an illumination and signaling capability and they worked well. The attached photo shows one of mine alongside a green star. The only difference between the white and green stars was the color of the illumination star. There may have been other differences, but my M583 has a straight composite body on it not the two diameter aluminum type of the M583A1. The cartridge case is the M195 and it was made by the Amron Corporation of Antigo, WI. The "KC" is the Kilgore Corporation of Toone, TN who made projectile componenets and the "MA" is Milan Arsenal of Milan, TN who loaded and packed the round. What is missing externally is the white plastic snap on nose cap with a raised "W" on it to signify a White star. There were a lot of the M583 series rounds made and used. Your Vietnam era collection is growing!

 

[dano1917]

Well EODGUY, many many thanks. I think I am getting an old fashioned education here. I got it over at Alamo in St. Louis it was marked 5.00 and Tom just threw it in when I bought the practice bazooka projectile. Again I very much appreciate the information and honestly am "pleasantly surprised" that it is a military item. I was kind of thinking that it may have been a civilian flare but that was my own ignorance. I think it'll look pretty good when I get and/or make the domed cap. DANO