I don't have all that much old stuff, but a few of them are seldom seen. Since everyone seems to be interested in the older pieces at the moment I thought I would dust off some shots of some of my more rare examples of US shrapnel projectiles.
The first two are 3-inch shrapnel projectiles, with experimantal external tracers. The first has a steel tracer, the second is brass. The brass has its own stamped markings on the tracer, still easily readable.
The third photo is a US 3.2-inch shrapnel, with the wooden nose plug.
Fourth is a 3.8-inch shrapnel, a little worse for wear, but very seldom seen.
Finally there is the US 5-inch shrapnel, cut-away. This was an early shrapnel piece, in the cutaway you can see that they were placing each of the shrapnel balls in its own carrier pocket within heavy steel trays. Apparently this was done in smaller calibers as well, I've range-picked a fractured small tray that would be about right for a 3-inch projectile. I haven't tried to ID the fuze as yet, but would expect it to be a larger variation (more seconds) of the US 15 second combination fuze.
The first two are 3-inch shrapnel projectiles, with experimantal external tracers. The first has a steel tracer, the second is brass. The brass has its own stamped markings on the tracer, still easily readable.
The third photo is a US 3.2-inch shrapnel, with the wooden nose plug.
Fourth is a 3.8-inch shrapnel, a little worse for wear, but very seldom seen.
Finally there is the US 5-inch shrapnel, cut-away. This was an early shrapnel piece, in the cutaway you can see that they were placing each of the shrapnel balls in its own carrier pocket within heavy steel trays. Apparently this was done in smaller calibers as well, I've range-picked a fractured small tray that would be about right for a 3-inch projectile. I haven't tried to ID the fuze as yet, but would expect it to be a larger variation (more seconds) of the US 15 second combination fuze.
