All steel 7.5cm Pak 40 hollow charge projectile

[Burney Davis]

I have attached a picture of a recently acquired 7.5cm pak 40 hollow charge projectile. It has a steel nose piece. I have seen and handled many HC projectiles over the years for different 7.5cm guns but never seen one that was all steel. Is there a specific designation for this and are there many others around? TIA.

 

[high-value-target]

To my knowledge there was never any specific designation for the steel hood or any other type of material as there was for the driving bands (e.g. FES). At least I have never come across it. Personally I have only seen perhaps 2 or 3 of the all steel ones and only recognised them as such due to corrosion. I guess Zinc was also getting rare towards the end of 1944 and the manufacturing process for the drawn steel hood was reasonably faster and resource-saving.

 

[Burney Davis]

To my knowledge there was never any specific designation for the steel hood or any other type of material as there was for the driving bands (e.g. FES). At least I have never come across it. Personally I have only seen perhaps 2 or 3 of the all steel ones and only recognised them as such due to corrosion. I guess Zinc was also getting rare towards the end of 1944 and the manufacturing process for the drawn steel hood was reasonably faster and resource-saving.

I think you are most likely right in these being late war production. I've always thought they could have used steel rather than zinc alloy as standard.

 

[Alpini]

Aren't there any stamps on it? Is the fuze screwed in completely on the picture?

 

[Burney Davis]

Aren't there any stamps on it? Is the fuze screwed in completely on the picture?

The fuze is not fully seated in the picture but it does screw down correctly. Only markings are the 2754 shown in the picture.

 

[Alpini]

That isn't normal - it should be full of stamps. Did you meassure the exact diameter? The steel nose piece isn't unusual.

 

[fert]

Could be a post ww2 czech made?

 

[Nabob]

The Czech nz40 fuze used with HEAT projectiles had 20x1 thread the AZ38 has 18x1 thread.
I do not recall seeing a Czech manufactured HEAT round in 75 mm. All post war manuals mention ex-German ammunition fitted with AZ38 fuze.

How about Hungarian, the 42M is quite a small fuze.

Bob.

 

[AKON_]

It makes no sense to number the front ogival when there is no identical number on the cylindrical part.
In my opinion, it is a composite of several pieces...
Even the fuses diameter is larger compared to the diameter of the mouthpiece than it should be.
If I remember the piece I had in my hand, it is quite different..
Akon

 

[Burney Davis]

It makes no sense to number the front ogival when there is no identical number on the cylindrical part.
In my opinion, it is a composite of several pieces...
Even the fuses diameter is larger compared to the diameter of the mouthpiece than it should be.
If I remember the piece I had in my hand, it is quite different..
Akon

The fuze is a perfect fit for the top ogival piece (it simply isn't screwed down in the picture) and is an AZ38. I suspect that the round was originally rusty and removing the rust has perhaps reduced the surface by half a milimeter but not enough to remove markings if they were of the same type as the one that can be seen.

I have handled well over a dozen good condition HC projectiles in recent years and can confidently say that not all were marked with matching numbers (top and body) and some numbers were mismatched but definitely together from birth evidenced by original paint.

Anyway, my original question has been answered so thanks to all.