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10cm Gr.39 Rot Hl/C

pzgr40

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Cutaway model of a WW2 German 10cm Gr.39 Rot Hl/C. It was used in the L.f.H.18 and in the LG40 airborne gun.

Projectile build up:
The body of the projectile is made of mild steel and has a FES drivingband. The nosepiece is cast Zinc that has been machined. The cone and the flanged hollow fustrum are also made of mild steel. An aluminium pipe goes down into the projectile to end up over gaine 41 (Zdlg.41 / Zundladung 41)

The explosive charge is made up of three blocks of pressed H5 (Hexogen with 5% wax) placed in a cartboard bushing, glued into the projectile with magnesium kit. Below the bushing the remaining space is filled up with a glass or bakelite spacer.

Functioning of the fuze AZ38:
In rest, the centrifugal safety elements are held inward by a spring, preventing the firing pin from reaching the duplex detonator. After firing , the segments are thrown outward allowing the firing pin to move down freely. A wooden hammer pin above the firing pin pushes the firing pin on impact.

Functioning of Gaine 41:
Gaine 41 is a steel made gaine . It containa an aluminium cup containing Nitropenta. This cup houses detonator 3801. A bakelite cap that guides the flame directly into the Detonator 3801 is placed above the aluminium cap.
After impact, the flame of the duplex detonator travels down the aluminium pipe into detonator 3801, exploding the gaine and projectile.

Functioning of projectile: After impact, the flame of the exploding duplex detonator is “spit back” into Gaine 41. The explosive charge burns up – base to top- . When the cone is reached it is collapsed forward with appr 8500mtrs/sec, forming a “jet” that punches through a tanks armour.
The penetration given for the 10cm Gr.39 Rot Hl/C is 100 mm @30 degr. at any distance.

The goal of the flanged hollow fustrum above the cone is to prevent pieces of the expolding duplex detonator from damaging the cone.
A cartboard washer is placed on top of the fustrum , serving as a final assembly lock up ring.

The projectile is of the Rot type, meaning it has a modified driving band and was originally meant for another type of gun. It can clearly be seen that below the driving band a long straight open piece could accomodate another drivingband.
A Rot projectile was marked with a red band above the drivingband.
 

Attachments

  • 01 - 10cm Gr.39Rot HlC.JPG
    01 - 10cm Gr.39Rot HlC.JPG
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  • 02 - AZ38.JPG
    02 - AZ38.JPG
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  • 03 - Gaine 41.JPG
    03 - Gaine 41.JPG
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  • 04 - Zdlg 41.jpg
    04 - Zdlg 41.jpg
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  • 05 - L.f.H.18.gif
    05 - L.f.H.18.gif
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  • 06 - lg2 powdercharge.jpg
    06 - lg2 powdercharge.jpg
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  • 07 - 10,5 cm Gr 39 Hl-A,B,C.jpg
    07 - 10,5 cm Gr 39 Hl-A,B,C.jpg
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Hallo @pzgr40,
what does the abbrevation "Rot"(red in german) stand for ? Nice work as always !
bellifortis.

Stands for an alteration of the driving band to make the shell suitable for an other gun.
This shell could not be fired from the LG 40, but could from the LG 42, which had a different rifling.
The original 10,5 cm Gr 39 Hl ( so without the suffix “rot” ) was designed for the 10,5 cm LG 40.
 
The HL/C versions of the 7,5 cm version had a tracer. Strange the Germans did not use one on this projectile?
 
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