25 pounder Artllery shell ID

[johny longshot]

Hi all
Hoping I can get some help to id this shell.
thistrench art was made by my father who served in ww2.
I have never met him he died when I was just 2 years old...so it would be cool to know as much as I can about his service.
I did try to identify it but beyond the obvious I couldn't figure out what all the stamps signify.
There is a coin from Norway dated 1941 that was used as a washer.
I belive it was fired from a howitzer?
Thanks in advance

 

[Falcon]

Welcome to the forum.

Here is a translation of the markings:

25PR : Type of gun case was made for

II : Mark 2 case specification, design changes from mark 1.

LOT 1273 : Number of the manufacturing lot of cases. Used so any potential manufacturing problems could be traced back.

ECC: Case manufacturer: Edwarn Curran and Co., Cardiff, Wales

1941: Year of case manufacturer.

C.F. : Case was loaded with a full charge of Cordite smokeless powder as opposed to black powder (gunpowder).

The two small arrows are acceptance stamps, indicating that the case had passed inspection and had been deemed suitable for military service.

I can also decode some of the markings on the central screw-in primer if you are interested.

The case was for the 25 Pounder gun, which was a conventional gun and not a Howitzer. The case would have originally been 292mm long.

The rifle-calibre cartridge in the middle looks to be a .303, which was the standard calibre of rifle ammunition for Canada (as well as Britian and the British empire) during WW2.

 

[ozziammo]

Howdy Falcon,

I may have been misled in the past but does: ECC not stand for Elswick Cartridge Company?

Waiting to learn something new today

Regards Ozzi.

 

[Falcon]

You are probably thinking of EOC which was Elswick Ordnance Company. However, I believe this company no longer existed after 1918.

I have never seen an EOC marked case later than that year.

 

[Snufkin]

The Elswick Ordnance Company as such ceased to be in 1863 when it was merged with the nearby W.G. Armstrong Hydraulics to become Sir W.G. Armstrong and Company.

Sir W.G. Armstrong & Co. merged with Charles Mitchell & Co. in 1882 to become Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., which in turn merged with Joseph Whitworth & Co. in 1897 to become Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co. more commonly known just as Armstrong Whitworth.

The EOC monogram was used to identify Armstrong Whitworth products made in the Elswick Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so WWI era cartridges and shells stamped EOC are Armstrong Whitworth.

By the late 1930s, Armstrong Whitworth had merged with Vickers to become Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, products from the Elswick Works during WWII using the monogram VA.





Tom.