7.92 besa ammo box h29

[hans prijs]

new to my collection.

besa ammo box 450 cartridges in linked belts

regards hans

[hans prijs]

pictures of besa ammo box

[khanmak]

A really nice box & I'd guess very rare - I've certainly never seen one before! Quite interesting historically as well, as its obviously factory belted ammo with a standard mix of Ball, Tracer, AP & Incendiary. Something I certainly didnt know that tank armament would have fired in that mix! Nice one I'm jealous!

[Falcon]

Really nice box, anything associated with the Besa MG seems to be hard to find, many people haven't even heard of it.

I collect the (INERT) 7.92x57 rounds with British headstamps which were for the Besa MG. I only have about 10 specimens, some of which I paid £5 each for.

[Brennan]

Great picture. I can't quite make out the composition though.. looks like;

2 - Ball
2 - Tracer
3 - Armour Piercing
1 - Incendiary
? - ?????

Am I reading that right? Not even sure if there's a fifth line there.

[TonyE]

No fifth line, just ball, tracer, AP and incendiary.

The incendiary B Mark Iz (as in this box) was too sensitive and if there was a misfeed the bullet was liable to detonate in the oen receiver. This was particularly unpopukar as the breech was by the gunner's ear. The problem was put down to the incendiary filling of SR365. When the round was developed old incendiary filling was used, but when in production with newly made SR365 it was too sensitive. It was quickly replaced by the B Mark IIz.

I have attached an interesting label. When the Besa first came into service there was a demand for an incendiary round, but the B Mark Iz was not ready, so the military purchased some smoke tracer that Kynoch had available. Smoke tracer was the alternative name for the Buckingham type phosphorus incendiary that Kynoch made for export. This label shows these being used in early mixed belts. As it left a smoke trail there was no need for separate tracers.

Regards
TonyE

[Brennan]

Very interesting, would you happen to know what Besa belt makeups would be representative for a BEF tank, 8th Army tank, late-war tank, ect?

Judging by the ammo marks I'd guess the box hans prijs posted is for a mid war loadout?

[relbut]

I took this photo a few years ago at the ACCA cartridge auction and thought it was unusual at the time. I think the tin had miscellaneous cartridges and other bits in it and was probably seen as just a storage bin. I was beginning to get interested in labelling and took the photo for reference.

[TonyE]

A very nice tin. I particularly like the overprinting of the quantities.

Regards
TonyE

[TonyE]

I thought you might like to see this array of drill and dummy British Besa rounds. Note the different bullet ogives used.

Regards
TonyE

PS The curvature is due to getting too close - the rounds are actually straight!