7.92x57mm Mauser - DWM 1938 SS-TV Info Required

[EagleEyes]

Several years ago I picked up this 7.92x57mm Mauser round on a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic well Czechoslovakia at the time. I was especially drawn to the unusual headstamp but like to find out more about it. The projectile has a steel core and the case is not brass. Can anybody give me any information ie case material, projectile, manufacturer and history behind this round?

Round
Case: ???
Projectile: 7.92mm s.S. Schweres Spitzgescho (Heavy Pointed Bullet)
Headstamp: DWM 1938 -TV
Year: 1938
Manufacturer: DWM, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (German Weapons and Munitions Work), Berlin, Germany
User: -TV, -Totenkopfverbnde was the (Schutzstaffel) organisation responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich.


Wikipedia Links
DWM [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Waffen_und_Munitionsfabriken"]Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="image"><img alt="Question book-new.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png[/ame]
SS-TV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-Totenkopfverb%C3%A4nde
SS [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel"]Schutzstaffel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg" class="image"><img alt="Flag Schutzstaffel.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg/100px-Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/3/33/Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg/100px-Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg.png[/ame]
.

 

[blackwatch]

7,92 mm s.S. (schweres Spitzgescho)
DWM =Deutsche Waffen- u munitionsfabrik Berlin (manufacturer)
SS TV = SS Totenkopfverbnde

 

[Dutch]

In 1938 this round was made with an sS bullet (heavy ball). This bullet has a lead core. If yours have a steel core, it is not belonging to the case.
This cartridge is not an official round from the armed forces, but a civil order of the SS.
They had to pay at that time for her weapons and ammunition itself.
If you order an amount of ammo, you can decide what head stamp you want to have.
There are two head stamps known from 1938 and one from 1939. Who made the 1939 is unknown until now.

Later 1939 this changed, because the SS had access to the Czech and Slovak factories and helped there self with weapons, as well as ammunition.


Rgds
Dutch

 

[TonyE]

Case material

If the case is not brass then it is steel. I do not collect German ammo so I leave it to others to give a more detailed answer, but it looks like it is a steel case that has lost much of its original lacquer.

However, I thought these SS rounds were brass cased.

Regards
TonyE

 

[Dutch]

Yes Tony, you are right. These cartridges were only made with brass cases.

Rgds.

 

[smle2009]

Looks like a bad case(pun intended) of electrolisis?(I'm tired and had a day of days today!) looks like it has spent some time in the ground

Tony

 

[EagleEyes]

The case isn't steel but I think an unusual copper brass bronze mix. Where the Czechs / Germans experimenting with case materials in the 1930's?

 

[smle2009]

When a case/round is in the ground for a period of time the brass content of the brass/copper mix that 'brass' case's are made of leaches out leaving the classic copper colour,photo is of a .303" case to which this has also happened to.
Tony

 

[303Gunner]

When a case/round is in the ground for a period of time the brass content of the brass/copper mix that 'brass' case's are made of leaches out leaving the classic copper colour, photo is of a .303" case to which this has also happened to.
Tony

It is Zinc and Copper that are alloyed to make Brass. The zinc/copper ratio is usually around 1:2 parts, although differing ratios gives different properties such as hardness, malleability and spring. Zinc is more readily dissolved in various salts and acids than copper, and leaches out, thus gradually changing the alloy, and therefore appearance and properties of the metal. Severely dezincified brass can be porous and/or weakened to such an extent as to make it unsafe for cartridges.

 

[TonyE]

Brass

The normal brass alloy used for cartridge cases is 2:1 copper:zinc as 303Gunner says. The actual German mix was 67% copper, as evidenced by the "S67" headstamp found on WWI 7.92mm rounds.

Another common alloy was 72% copper as used by the Poles for their cases.

Regards
TonyE

 

[tbstreet]

As the case is a fired empty, the bullet need have no relation to it. The "blurring" of the headstamp and rounding of the rim edge clearly demonstrates corrosion in an alkali (likely ash from a fire) environment.