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German? 5cm ID needed

94thFS95

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello all,
I recently purchased a projectile not knowing exactly what it was, but the price was too good not to. Does anyone know what it is? The band measurement is 51.75mm, height of the steel projectile is 18.2cm, totaling 19cm at the top of the brass cap. Base is flat, no markings. If you know what it is, what is the correct case?
 
The projectile has a number of identifying characteristics, such as fuze, fuze well, rotating band height, distance from the base, etc. Once we have some photos and details of those characteristics, identification should be forthcoming.
 
The band is 18.06mm wide, and is 11.35mm from the base. The base is flat, no markings. The brass fuse at the top has had a threaded lamp rod brazed into it and cannot be removed.
 
I have in my collection this same projectile. Mine was also mounted on a base and upon removal has what appears to be an integral tracer element protruding about 15mm from the bottom of the projectile. If you look at the rotating band, you can see that instead of being squared off on the bottom (for a fixed case round), it tapers down. This is indicative of either a bag gun or separate loading shell. Bag gun projectiles typically have the blunted cylinder profile as opposed to the more modern taper of this projectile so I lean toward a separate loading shell. Mine has the French Model 1888 37mm projectile fuze in it (I can't be sure if it is correct to this projectile but it does thread in), so, possible a French rather than German manufacture. This streamlined projectile profile does appear on the French 47mm revolving cannon HE round from the 1916-1917 era, but the m1888 fuze is for low explosive (Black Powder) and not HE. It could possibly be an experimental round that never saw service, maybe a bomber mounted cannon?? Just a guess of course. Until yours turned up, I had never seen another so now that there are at least two, it does seem to be a real item as opposed to a trench art fabrication. Patience I guess, hopefully we'll figure this out someday.
 
I came to a similar conclusion about the loading orientation. Mine does not have a crimp groove, and I had assumed that may be an indication of being a semi-fixed round. glad to hear of another one.
-Steve
 
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