Unknown projectile

[MINENAZ16]

Hi,

I found a strange shell (empty) on a ww1 french (North) battlefield.
This shell looks like a Belgian 8.7cm with strange design :

-Strange driving band made with the shell
-remains of iron fuze
-hole in the base
-very fragile steel
-little weight

-Length : 220mm
-Diameter : base 83mm - driving band 87mm

Is it a dummy shell ?

Thanks


Any Live or Dug ordnance shown by me has been disposed of by EOD personnel

 

[MINENAZ16]

Hello,

Found a new one filled with explosive on ww1 battlefield (The Somme). Same brittle walls, no fuze. The round is fitted with a wood cylinder inside (from the base to the top), and a safety fuze inside the cylinder. I assume the safety fuze is initiated at fire.
I'm sure this round is not for a conventional gun, the round is too fragile (very strange material, could be broken with two hammer blows), maybe for a trench mortar.
I don't know the designation and if it's a german or a french round (or from other country and used by by German).

Regards

 

[kz11gr]

Hello

Could it be a practice / drill cannon shell ? It could explain the poor steel quality.

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[pzgr40/42]

Wild guess, an adaptation for "Lanz Werfer" ??

 

[Bellifortis]

this should be what you are looking for.

 

[Yodamaster]

Ssimple idea by thinking about the elements you give
If this shell seems so fragile and probably intended for trench mortar, it will therefore be at close range.
A safety fuze-based ignition system, a wooden cylinder inside, ... could you have to do with testing a new message carrier ?


Yoda

 

[doctor]

The interior is pre-fragmented. The explosive is of the shneiderite type ( HEfrench trench projectile for me).
The pierced base is closed by a thick wooden plug, the fuze is also made of wood and of the pyrotechnic type with ignition at the start of the shot.
These projectiles are found in the French experimental area during the ww1 with other expérimentals projectiles.

 

[kz11gr]

Hi Doctor

May be used in the "Appareil Moisson" , using old shells and grenades , simple wooden plugs allowing to use these old shells without the original fuze.




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[MINENAZ16]

The interior is pre-fragmented. The explosive is of the shneiderite type ( HEfrench trench projectile for me).
The pierced base is closed by a thick wooden plug, the fuze is also made of wood and of the pyrotechnic type with ignition at the start of the shot.
These projectiles are found in the French experimental area during the ww1 with other expérimentals projectiles.

Hi Doctor,
I hope you are well.
For your answer, yes of course, I forgot to bump this thread. If you remember I found two of these projectiles filled HE (the projectile on my picture was found empty) in the same aera. So we made an expertise at that time (and I could not post pictures of these live shells).
Cheers