Time to push some discussion back to the future - this is the XM54, 115mm / 4.5-inch projectile/rocket. It was intended for use by the USMC as a chemical delivery system. The dates are unknown, but 50s-60s is probably reasonable. The system made it quite far through the development/procurement chain, with examples being found at a number of sites. I have no idea what system was supposed to fire it.
The first three photos are of a nice unfired piece, you can easily tell the large rocket motor vs the relatively small warhead. The base of teh munition is fairly complicated, with two nozzles partially covered by a large plate which remains in place after firing.
I had owned this piece for several years when I was surprised at a recovery site in the southeast US to see that they had pulled out a significant number of these, mostly fired, but some not.
The items had been segregated into loaded/unloaded, contaminated (CW) and clean. Those items identified as clean and empty were being crushed by bulldozer. I was given permission to recover some samples, I removed two fired pieces with different base styles. An unusual detail was that on the unfired examples, the cartridge case was still partially present.
The case appeared to have been of the spiral steel type, with the thin steel wrap already rotted away. Very unusual though, was that the case had a full length primer, which actually screwed onto the projectile. On the unfired ones that I saw, several still had the case affixed in this way, but only one had not been crushed. I had to physically break the steel to recover the remains of this cartridge case, as you can see in the photo.
The last thing of interest is the label (sticker) attached to the unfired piece, it reads: "For Special Test! Warning! Not For Combat Use!" I've never seen a label like this before.
The first three photos are of a nice unfired piece, you can easily tell the large rocket motor vs the relatively small warhead. The base of teh munition is fairly complicated, with two nozzles partially covered by a large plate which remains in place after firing.
I had owned this piece for several years when I was surprised at a recovery site in the southeast US to see that they had pulled out a significant number of these, mostly fired, but some not.
The items had been segregated into loaded/unloaded, contaminated (CW) and clean. Those items identified as clean and empty were being crushed by bulldozer. I was given permission to recover some samples, I removed two fired pieces with different base styles. An unusual detail was that on the unfired examples, the cartridge case was still partially present.
The case appeared to have been of the spiral steel type, with the thin steel wrap already rotted away. Very unusual though, was that the case had a full length primer, which actually screwed onto the projectile. On the unfired ones that I saw, several still had the case affixed in this way, but only one had not been crushed. I had to physically break the steel to recover the remains of this cartridge case, as you can see in the photo.
The last thing of interest is the label (sticker) attached to the unfired piece, it reads: "For Special Test! Warning! Not For Combat Use!" I've never seen a label like this before.
