American gas shell 75mm help

[frijoles108]

Hello all,
I recently acquired what i believe is an american gas shell, although i am afraid it is the victim of being made into a lamp at some point in its life. it has a small threaded hole towards the base on the side and a smaller hole smack dab in center of the bottom. Id love some input on this, to confirm whether it was a former lamp or not.
Many thanks
p.s. its empty,

 

[highlandotter]

Sure looks like lamp alternations. Check wall thickness measurement. Gas shells usually have thinner walls.

 

[Dronic69]

IMHO - great buy!

Why?
> WW1 unfired projectile - very hard to find these days & in great condition;
> The hole is below the driving band - won't be seen once you can find a case for it
> Now hunt for a fuze as well - voila and very nice WW1 complete round!!!!

Projectiles re-purposed for trench art lamps are worth investigating - unlike shell cases, they normally just have a hole drilled in them normally from the base and are unfired.

Cheers
Drew

 

[Darkman]

I would say it was almost certainly a lamp. Here's a US 75mm HE shell I acquired that had been made into a lamp. It has a hole drilled into the shell below the driveband for the cord and a central hole drilled and tapped in the base to screw onto the wooden plinth.

 

[Dronic69]

@ Darkman,

Have you "un-trench art" it yet?

 

[frijoles108]

Have you "un-trench art" it yet?

I havent, i probably will just have it up for trade offers, i like to look for the examples that were never lamps personally

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

 

[Dronic69]

I havent, i probably will just have it up for trade offers, i like to look for the examples that were never lamps personally

Sent from my SM-G892U using Tapatalk

My apologies as the query was meant for Darkman - in your case you just have to fill a small hole - easy.

 

[Gspragge]

I recently saw a 1941 Canadian Made U.S. M81 (if I remember correctly- it was the 75mm U.S. pattern case in any event) case HE projectile and U.S. style French PD fuze all made here, Broad arrow mark on the fuze. It had been made into a lamp unfortunately it was found by some one else ( a git who knows bugger all) so no images. It needed to have the plating stripped, but it was very restorable. The projectile had the typical U.S. double grooves below the band. The front nose cone had numbers visible so the body might have had. As it looked just like a French 75 over all so I guess it was a standard U.S. 75mm HE type used in various things. I had never seen one made here before and 41 is early, pity.

 

[ordnance]

I also think this isn't a gas round but a high explosive type that has been turned into a lamp along the way. The hex adaptor in the nose is just a plumbing fitting, not a booster/adapter for chemical rounds. The photos above are of an original I borrowed to make a copy for my round. It is stripped in the first three images and the last two are of my reproduction. Note it is a 3 piece assembly with an internal booster cup retained by a lock ring.

 

[frijoles108]

View attachment 146174View attachment 146175View attachment 146176View attachment 146177View attachment 146178I also think this isn't a gas round but a high explosive type that has been turned into a lamp along the way. The hex adaptor in the nose is just a plumbing fitting, not a booster/adapter for chemical rounds. The photos above are of an original I borrowed to make a copy for my round. It is stripped in the first three images and the last two are of my reproduction. Note it is a 3 piece assembly with an internal booster cup retained by a lock ring.

Odd, cause usually all the american high explosive rounds i find have the brass base insert to prevent gases from penetrating the base of the projectile through cracks formed in the making of projectile? any idea why mine has a steel base and is dated 1918 on the base in contrast to the common high explosive? and also it has the american flaming bomb stamps on it along with the maker wmfg co on its side

 

[ordnance]

To be honest, the piece of this puzzle I know the least about is the projectile itself. Being more of a "grenade guy", if it doesn't have a spoon and pull ring, I get fuzzy pretty fast. My comments were more directed at the adapter and the opening for it. The outside thread of the original chemical adapters was a standard 1 1/4" X 11 1/2 threads per inch taper pipe. The major diameter of the thread is about 1 5/8". Your round looks smaller than that at the mouth so I'm pretty sure it isn't chemical. I expect some more qualified artillery collectors will check in with more information.

 

[Darkman]

@ Darkman,

Have you "un-trench art" it yet?

Hi Drew, yes it's been sitting nicely in a case for a long time now.