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Colour scheme of French Model 1937 APCBC Projectile

I believe the yellow nose is incorrect as that would designate it as a tracer equipped projectile, and the evidence supports that the only tracer rounds were made under German occupation.

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threa...Missing-Ballistic-Caps?highlight=missing+caps

Thanks. Having browsed various threads such as the above, another possibility seems to be a black body with bare metal penetrating and ballistic caps. I wasn’t sure if that was a German reissue colour scheme though.
 
Annoyingly I dont have positive confirmation in any documents I have.

From what I can tell, the french seemed to paint high explosive yellow (jaune) and training black (noir), but I can't confirm the AP
At a guess, it would make sense the Mg based ballistic cap would have some form of proection from oxidation, but yellow (HE) arguably not.

French37mm1940-8.jpgFrench37mm1940-9.jpg

In German usage the colour appears to be black for the AP (Pzgr. Patr. 176(f)) which would match alot of their AP colour schemes but of course that doesnt mean french was black.
053_173Abc.jpg

The final picture shows the 47mm Mle1937 gun with rounds, some with caps some without. The only slight clue might be the middle round leant agains the wheel, showing a cap of a differnet colour to the body. but its far from clear.
47mm mle1937.jpg
 
Hello from France,

Officially :
-magnesium windshield (screwed before firing) was unpainted or painted light brown
-shell body : unpainted or painted black or dark blue.

Regards
 
Hello from France,

Officially :
-magnesium windshield (screwed before firing) was unpainted or painted light brown
-shell body : unpainted or painted black or dark blue.

Thanks for that. Is the penetrating cap under the windshield also unpainted? Most of the images I can find seem to suggest it was.
 
I believe this picture is on this site some place else. I have least four references or photos of this three color appearance. The body is always black or dark blue (looks almost green now due to age). The piercing cap is shiny or with brown lacquer. The nose has no paint. The German manual shows the nose and piercing cap as unpainted. This pile shows the bodies to be black, the caps polished steel and nose unpainted.
 

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we can see three different colors (windshield, penet. cap and body) on the black & white picture
So I assume brown windshield, unpainted penetrating cap, black or blue body.

german 2 - Copie.jpggerman 2.jpggerman.jpg
 
Minenaz16, thank you, but do you have a reference or document for the brown, bare ballistic cap?
 
These rounds are also posted on this site somewhere. I believe them to be in original condition with surface rust on the piercing cap.
 

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Minenaz16, thank you, but do you have a reference or document for the brown, bare ballistic cap?

Information found in my documentation at work (no reference or RAL for the right brown color). As I wrote, the ballistic cap could also be unpainted (grey color because of material, magnesium, used to indicate impact)

I only found and collected rusty rounds, never with original paint.
 
The end result I’ve added a 47mm SA35 round* as a comparison. I used two different metallic paints on the caps for a bit of contrast. The resin shot is about 1mm undersized, so it only loosely rests in the top of the case. I also had to de-bell the neck a bit.

Not the greatest combo, but it’ll do as a place holder pending finding a real projectile. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

CB40F5A4-B363-458D-9278-C729407D6AD0.jpgED9938BA-76A1-4583-90E9-CE25230070DB.jpg


*The projectile is somewhat of an oddity as it has no penetrating cap and no sign it ever had one.
 
Since then I found on google little references of AP model 1932 and this diagram on bocn :

MVC_773S.jpg


As there was a HE model 1932, it's obvious french made an AP round at the same time.
 
Couple of images of my 47mm Mle 1937 APCBC with magnesium ballistic cap.
 

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Since then I found on google little references of AP model 1932 and this diagram on bocn :

View attachment 160646


As there was a HE model 1932, it's obvious french made an AP round at the same time.

Thanks for that. So to clarify, the early M1935 AP round used the uncapped M1932 shot (what I have) and later on a capped version of the shot was used? (Like the German 5cm PzGr)
 
Thanks for that. So to clarify, the early M1935 AP round used the uncapped M1932 shot (what I have) and later on a capped version of the shot was used? (Like the German 5cm PzGr)

I don't know if there is a link between m32 and m35, it's the first time I see this (supposed) m32. For sure M32 had a very short life and supersed by M35 with more penetrating effect.
 
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