40mm Bofors cartridge clip

[Darkman]

You dont often see these 40mm cartridge clips about.

The No. 14 is slightly larger than the No. 30s for 2 pdrs. MC is (Munitions) Finsbury, Adelaide, South Australia.
I have 2 other Australian makers also, including BP.

The clips were fitted to the cartridges packed in cardboard tubes in the C219 ammunition box as per the photos.

 

[hasag]

Never saw one nice piece.
Thanks for sharing the images.
Enrique

 

[kahu1]

I never thought of Bofors cartridges being fitted with primer safety clips,usually seen in the 4 round loading clips.
Makes sense though as resupplied as single,tubed,boxed rounds.
There must be truckloads of these somewhere!

Bob

 

[Darkman]

That's the point Bob. The C219 boxes are everywhere but you rarely ever see the clips - yet every box had 24. The C219 boxes are much more common than the C216 variant with the 6 x 4 rounds already fitted into the loader clips.

 

[Richard709]

The No 14 clip is used for the 3 Pdr Saluting Gun case and was previously used for all 3 Pdr cases, which could go some way to explain why you don't see thousands of them. I have never seen a 40mm bofor's with a clip till now.

 

[Darkman]

Thanks for the extra info Richard. You could be correct. These were supplied to me as 40mm clips. I'm not 100% sure that they were used on Bofors cartridges, but I am fairly reliably advised from a very knowledgeable ordnance person that the source of these actual clips was from inside some old C219 boxes. I have also never previously seen a clip on a Bofors cartridge, but the head of a round sits outside the cardboard packing tube and primer protection seems prudent. (Perhaps this was achieved in another manner?) Bit of an enigma as there are literally thousands of cartridges around and lots of boxes, but you never see the clips. Were 3 pdrs supplied in C219 boxes? The No. 14 clip snaps very easily on and off the 40mm case head and is a perfect snug fit. I will have to do further research as the clips I have are Australian made and I will look to see who also made 3 pdrs. The clip in my photo mas made by "MC" Finsbury who was also a major manufacturer of 40mm cases - not sure if they made any other calibre case at all - I'll have to find out. Very interesting.

 

[Richard709]

The 2 I have to hand are both marked No 14 GW Mk3 N, the N stands for Naval. yours appears to be an older style marking Mk 111 N, I know boxes are reused and items are packed in the most convenient packaging available at the time, so 3 pdrs could have been supplied in C219??. if the box came from a naval source then the ship could well have had both guns. the answer will lie in the packing instructions for the 40mm Bofer's if anyone has a copy.

 

[Quatermass]

Is this the same?, certainly for a 3 PDR marked VSM III in a circle.
I can find no mention of a primer protector in the Bofors handbooks 1938/1941 or the 1946 maintenance manual.

 

[Burney Davis]

You don’t often see these 40mm cartridge clips about.

The No. 14 is slightly larger than the No. 30’s for 2 pdrs. “MC” is (Munitions) Finsbury, Adelaide, South Australia.
I have 2 other Australian makers also, including “BP”.

The clips were fitted to the cartridges packed in cardboard tubes in the C219 ammunition box as per the photos.

I stand to be corrected, but I don't believe that protector fitted a bofors case. The rim of such cases is substantially thicker than most other cases and if you look closely at your pictures the case rim is not 'grabbed' by the arm. It is often difficult to remove protectors from their mated case (as that is why they are there), but it looks like the one in your picture will easily flick off. Just MHO.

D

 

[Darkman]

Thanks for all the information everyone.

Yes, everything (including the scarcity of these clips and the "N" for naval) points to them being for the 3 pdr cartridge. Close inspection confirms that the clip does not fully fit over the rim of Bofors 40mm case properly and comes off too easily.

A bit of research also indicates that Australia did have a (very) few Naval guns and Vickers Medium tanks (early in WW2) fitted with the 47mm Hotchkiss 3 pdr.

The Ordnance Factory at Finsbury ("MC"), whilst a very large maker of 40mm cartridge cases, is not listed as exclusive to this calibre, so may well have made some 3 pdrs as well (I'd love an MC stamped 3 pdr case!). I'm not sure of the overall length of a 3 pdr round, but if they fitted in a C219 box, it's quite likely they would have used these for packaging.

I am a little bit peeved as they were sold to me as 40mm cartridge clips and the original finder (not the seller) seemed to verify this fact. Good to know the correct use though (that's the benefit of the forum), and still happy - as they weren't that expensive and turn out to be fairly rare here anyway.

I would still like to know how the exposed primers were protected in the C219 (and C216) box though, if anyone has an ammunition packaging handbook.

Cheers, Graeme