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Home Guard weapon The Smith Gun & ammo

There was a practice bomb for the Smith gun which was basically an HE body, mostly filled with pitch but with a smoke indicating topping. Several vents were drilled around the upper end of the body as emission holes. The bomb was fuzed with the usual allways fuze (245 or 247).
 
roller63 said:
practice shell and fuse
smith_gun_PRACTICE_shell.jpg
Click to expand...

Does anybody know the name of the manual this picture was taken from or where I can find a copy?

Ideally I nedd to know the weight/fill, action on firing and fuse type fitted. I can make a good assumption, I'd like to know for sure.
 
Jluze said:
Does anybody know the name of the manual this picture was taken from or where I can find a copy?

Ideally I nedd to know the weight/fill, action on firing and fuse type fitted. I can make a good assumption, I'd like to know for sure.[/QUOTE


Josh, your pm's replied to and email sent, regards, Tony.
Click to expand...
 
Great thread, I am after some more specific information on the 8lb practice shell, did it have the No. 245 or 247 fuze ? Also is the picture in post #9 is this the 6lb HE Anti tank shell ? Finally as a full list of ammunition used with the system i had 8lb HE practice, 8lb HE anti personnel and 6lb HE anti tank. However on this thread there appears to be other projectiles too ?
 
The practice shell should be fitted with the metal No.245 fuze, but I get the impression these were scarce and the Bakelite No.247 fuze was used, despite what it says in the manual. I have only seen museum pics of shells with the 245 fuze. All the practice shells I have seen have 247 fuzes on them.
Post No.9 in this post is the Anti Tank shell.
Post No.4 shows the 3" WP mortar bomb, converted with a cartridge to be fired from the Smith Gun. Post No.5 shows the 3" HE mortar bomb with the same cartridge. Posts No.7 and 8 shows the fuzes used on the 3" mortars.
Hope this helps.
 
Thanks, this site/users are great for information. I am currently trying to gather specifics about weights and fills of the different types of ammunition, but am finding it very difficult. So far only able to get 310 grams of Cordite as the prop charge. Any ideas where I could find such information? Specifically how the practice HE shell works as they are designed to be re-used and any HE fill would likely crack the casing?
 
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I am going to send you this by email, I sent it before, but you may not have seen it as it's a pdf file. It gives a brief description of the practice shell and filling. I can't seem to upload it here.
 
The Smith Gun is known as a 3-inch smooth bore gun, but I think the real calibre is 81 mm, because it can fire the customised 3-inch mortar bombs.
Has anyone dimensions and explosive weights of the 8 lb. HE bomb and the 6 lb. AT Bomb?

Greetings - Antoon
 
For the HE round, overall length with fuze No.245 8.3", maximum diameter of the shell 3.17", maximum diameter of cartridge 3.64".
 
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