Unknown 30mm projectile (GAU-8?) - does anyone recognise this?

[ogreve]

A fellow NVBMB member asked if anyone recognises the shown 30mm projectile. So far, no one has come up with a positive ID, so I am posting the picture here, to see if anyone (Tony Williams? Hazord? Others?) has any idea about it.

Down below follows (paraphrased) what I myself wrote about it on the NVBMB site:

I see that no one else has mentioned anything about this strange projectile.
Let's see if we can shake some info out of a tree somewhere...

I observe the following:
- The driving band style and overall length comes across as that of some US GAU-8 projectiles, IIRC the ones that I think are/were made by Honeywell. I am not sure if indeed (only) Honeywell is the respective manufacturer of GAU-8 projectiles with a single wide driving band, but such is the 'mental note' I have at least... I also do not know whether that type of driving band was in use exclusively with GAU-8 projectiles or also with other 30mm calibers. Usually those I have seen on US GAU-8 TP projectiles are white/transparent-ish, made from nylon, I think.
- The crimp groove appears to be consistent with what I see as crimp style on the aforementioned GAU-8 TP rounds that feature a projectile with a wide driving band.
- The very 'sharply' pointed nose in combination with the strong boat tail suggests that it is a 'low drag' model.
- I am not specialised in the realm of modern 30mm cartridges, but I did use to collect those as a secondary area of interest earlier. I can't recall having seen any similar shaped ones that were destined for the GAU-8, Rarden, nor Oerlikon KCA or KCB. The overall projectile length and shape does not make me consider Aden/DEFA 30mm projectiles as candidates, but who knows... Possibly this projectile concerns an experimental model from an experiment to achieve 'high speed' (and/or further range)?!

Does anyone recognise this projectile, or can anyone confirm/correct (part of) the assumptions/observations I made above?

Thanks in advance and cheers!
-O.

 

[Charlie]

Never seen any with that ogive in my days collecting RARDEN if that helps.
C.

 

[HAZORD]

That type of solid rotating band was characteristic of the Philco-Ford design when they submitted entries for the initial design competition of the GAU-8 ammunition when the gun was being developed.

 

[Spaceinvader]

An identical projectile along with 2 variants were posted on the IAA many years ago, stuck in French and Australian 30x113b DEFA casings, obviously incorrect. The projectiles were not ID’d though.

While I don’t have any info on them, I agree with Hazord, the design is very similar to Philco-Ford projectiles with the crimping groove specifically being near identical.

 

[ogreve]

Hi All,

Thanks for the information given so far!
So, it seems most likely the driving band is a Ford-Philco design. I'm not sure anymore where my 'Honeywell mental note' came from, possibly the GAU-8 TP projectiles / rounds one often sees here in The Netherlands with the wide semi-transparant drive band were made by Honeywell, or maybe I am simply mistaken. As for such driving bands being red: that is something I don't recall having seen often on GAU-8 projectiles. I searched somewhat with Google and did find a very small images of a few such rounds though (see the attached picture).
Just like the others here say, I do agree that the type of projectile does not look like anything I'd expect for the Rarden, Aden or DEFA 30mm calibres. I also THINK (a bit less sure here...) that the Oerlikon KCA and KCB guns don't use ammo with nylon driving bands either.
All in all I'm pretty convinced that indeed it is a projectile that was destined for the GAU-8. Shapewise I also think that the extremely streamlined shape was done to reduce drag and hence achieve further range. It will be interesting to see if someone can tell more about it still.

-O.