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South African Head Stamps

Andy Naude

Well-Known Member
While these were passing through my hands, I thought I would share.

This list is not conclusive, but gives some idea of what was being manufactured.

The "U" is for Union of South Africa (South Africa became a republic on 31 May 1961.)

The SAM on the primers are presumably South African Mint.

20210228_165045.jpg20210228_165017.jpg20210228_164950.jpg20210106_183747.jpg
 
A in diamond denotes the case has been 'low temperature annealed'

TimG
 
Andy,

Union of South Africa. Was that a company name, or more of an acceptance stamp?

Joe
 
I understand that part, but what does the U stand for then? That is it for that country? Or an acceptance stamp for South Africa? The initial post makes it sound like Union of South Africa might have been their manufacturing name. We see it in Iran and other countries where there government and military machines are one entity.

Joe
 
U on small arms ammo eg. .303 is made by South African Mint, Kimberley, South Africa. Possibly made artillery cases too.
 
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U = Union of South Africa. I believe that the "U" on its own was made by Pretoria Metal Pressings (PMP). The U (diamond) was used by the Kimberly ammunition plant, this is seen on some of the .303 ammunition.

In more modern ammunition the letters KE are used on large calibres. This I believe is Kimberly Engineering works.
 
The assigned acceptance mark for the Union of South Africa was a ‘U’ with a pheon in the centre. One has to take into consideration that whilst the contribution of the Union of South Africa to the war effort was commendable, there was however a significant anti-British movement that was most forthright, (a number of the opposition party spent the duration of the war in prison). This might be an explanation as to the absence of the pheon on the cases shown.


Just prior to the start of WWII, S.A.A. was manufactured by the South African Mint at Pretoria and they utilised a ‘U’ on the headstamp. In September 1941 a new factory was opened at Kimberley. Initially, both plants used ‘U’ on the headstamp, but apparently in 1942 the Kimberly headstamp was amended to include a diamond, presumably alluding to Kimberley’s involvement in the diamond industry.


Although I stated above that an ‘A’ within a diamond denotes low temperature annealing, I’m beginning to wonder if the South Africans decided to utilise this as a factory monogram.

I have lists of South African factories involved in the war effort, there are none listed for the manufacture of artillery cases. Snufkin has carried out some research in this area and may well be able to shed further light on the matter.

TimG
 
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Large calibre cartridge cases during WWII seem only to have been made at the South African Mint, of which there were four locations: Pretoria, Kimberley, Ladysmith and Johannesburg. Pretoria was the primary site, making complete rounds of 2-pr (A/T), 6-pr (A/T), 13-pr, and 18-pr; and cases and primers for 25-pr, 3.7-inch howitzer and 4.5-inch howitzer. The attached example page is of 1942 Ammunition Production Deliveries from the SA Mint, Pretoria, to 1st July 1942, which gives some idea of the ammunition on order, being made, and in what numbers. (The eye-straining image is due to the original document being a poor carbon copy, rather than my inept photography, but hopefully most details can be deciphered.)

Of the other sites, Kimberley was an extension of the SAA facility at Pretoria, and Ladysmith was the main facility for reconditioning and reloading of fired cases - particularly 25-pr for India from 1944.

Since the head stamps of the four cases shown in the opening post show no markings of having been repaired and refilled, it is probably unlikely that the A in a diamond is an annealing stamp, but more a final inspection stamp. Given the consistent position of the U at the 3 o'clock manufacturer's monogram location (on British cases), then I would say - speculatively - that the U indicates manufacture of all four cases by South African Mint, Pretoria.



Tom.
 

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Tom,

TonyE's records state that Pretoria closed in 1942 and S.A.A. manufacture was transferred to Kimberley. From the above, it would appear that Pretoria merely ceased S.A.A. production to concentrate on large calibre case manufacture.

TimG
 
Tim,

That is the case, SAA production was transferred to Kimberley in November-December 1942, while Pretoria concentrated on the larger calibre stuff.

In a meeting of the Munitions Production Committee, in Johannesburg, August 1941, the Mint facility under construction at Kimberley was described as "the SAA extension" to Pretoria. With the expansion of other munitions production, all .303 work, plant and workforce were transferred to Kimberley about a year later, as per the attached minute of the Munitions Production Committee, 22nd December 1942.

Tom.
 

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