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Boer War 12 and 15 pounder markings
- Thread starter Openroad
- Start date
I also would like to see a list of 15Pr Projectile base stamps. They do not have a case. Bagged charges.
I have a RL 111 and a K V but will have to look at the dates stamped on the projectile side and take photos.
Do yours have visible date stamps?
I think the only grouping was how far the vandal could throw them after removing the drive bands for money. Fired projectiles have bands.
I have a RL 111 and a K V but will have to look at the dates stamped on the projectile side and take photos.
Do yours have visible date stamps?
I think the only grouping was how far the vandal could throw them after removing the drive bands for money. Fired projectiles have bands.
Refer to post #31 for the differences in the MKs.
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/76294-15-pdr-HE-projectile/page4
From memory, the Mk IIs should have a date stamp on the side around the 1896 period.
MK IIIs around the 1898 and the later Mk V around the 1900.
Cheers
Drew
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/76294-15-pdr-HE-projectile/page4
From memory, the Mk IIs should have a date stamp on the side around the 1896 period.
MK IIIs around the 1898 and the later Mk V around the 1900.
Cheers
Drew
Thanks for this Drew! Lots of reading. And yes, the MK II’s have a Feb and March ‘96 date stamp. Is that the forged date?
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Darkman
Well-Known Member
They’ve hit rocks or very hard ground, which has probably accounted for the drivebands being knocked off. I’ve read texts of spent shrapnel shell cases “falling to the ground”, as if greatly retarded in velocity by the opposite force of the expulsion charge, but these have hit the ground with high impact and velocity.
I have to agree with Chris's (BMG50) comments - The middle projectile with the blown petal shape is quite appealing - more so than most WW1 period shell cases with similar shape tops.
Lucky devil - why can't I find something like that in my backyard!!!:tinysmile_cry_t4:
Lucky devil - why can't I find something like that in my backyard!!!:tinysmile_cry_t4:
Thanks Drew! Not quite in my backyard but I hear you! Great thread btw. I couldn’t find too much on manufacturers stamps? I have a W as well as PCo? Will post some more pics of some more pickups.
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Thought exactly the same. Have seen also projectiles here which hit something solid like steel plates or conrete where also the driving bands fell off. And as the 15-pdrs have fairly wide and heavy driving bands they will fall off easier then thin driving bands.
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Great! Thanks for this Snufkin. I will put a list together of manufacturers codes that I have needing clarity!
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These pics have an interesting back story. This is from a really obscure battle in a remote part of the northern cape. A small book describes this battle and tells how the British bombed a farm house with 15 pounders. It had been raining like crazy and so the ground was really muddy. These projectiles supposedly landed in the soggy aashoop (ash pit where the boers threw
all their rubbish) and didn’t detonate. A couple of years after the War a young boy on the farm dug them up and cemented them into the farm stoep (patio). I know the farmer really well and have spent 5 or 6 years exploring this battle field with a metal detector to try and solve the riddle. I have not found one projectile. Only some shrapnel balls, a pusher plate and lots of mauser and .303 cartridges.
Anyway, the farmer doesn’t want to break them out of the cement but is desperate for me to find one so he can see what they were like. My working theory is that these were not from the aashoop as they have typical scuff and dent marks of landing in the hills amongst the rocks. I guess the young boy must have been an eager explorer and picked them up, all 60 of them! These are pics I took with a phone some time back but I will endeavor to take some better pics when I am next there.
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Anyway, the farmer doesn’t want to break them out of the cement but is desperate for me to find one so he can see what they were like. My working theory is that these were not from the aashoop as they have typical scuff and dent marks of landing in the hills amongst the rocks. I guess the young boy must have been an eager explorer and picked them up, all 60 of them! These are pics I took with a phone some time back but I will endeavor to take some better pics when I am next there.
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