French 75

[Trenchwarfare]

A few questions on what I think is a French 75MM shrapnel round. It has a pewter, lead alloy nose piece. I assume, this is a shipping plug? Or, is it internally fused. Is headstamped, E.A. Co., EB&C Co., No. 1 M, 4 2 17 There is also a small "c" in a circle. Screw in primer is missing. British mfg? What is the approx. value?

 

[Trenchwarfare]

C'mon guys, help a brother out. Somebody, has to know something. Maybe, just a little?

 

[HAZORD]

My suggestion would be to photograph just the projo, looking directly at the side, with a tape measure in the photo, showing the distance to the rotating band from the base, and another photo looking into the fuze well area. Also, close-ups of any writing stamped into the projo body would help.

 

[Trenchwarfare]

These aren't the best pictures, but here they are.

 

[Trenchwarfare]

I have a metric ruler, but it's transparent yellow. Measures 75mm.

 

[frizzen]

French 75?

This is a WWI era Shrapnel round for the Russian 76.2mm field gun. It was manufactured in the US on contract. The key in identifying this projo is the crimping groove towards the bottom. US 3 inch field gun projectiles have two crimping grooves. The French 75's crimping groove is just under the band and kind of cones in toward the projo. Also, the French 75 case has a smaller primer and is about 2 inches shorter. We see a lot of these in the states as we got stuck with several million finished rounds after the Russian Revolution in 1917. In fact, the US toyed with the idea of rechambering the model 1903 field gun to take this ammunition as we had so many undeliverable rounds.........

 

[Trenchwarfare]

Thanks for the ID frizzen. Is that a shipping plug in the nose? What is the approx value? M.P.

 

[frizzen]

French 75?

The alloy top of the projectile is a shipping plug to protect the fuze threads. I have examples of this round with a Russian marked copy of the US M1907 fuze, British no80 and the US made copy of the Russian fuze (the one with the VC rice hat on top) I also have Russian mfg. rounds with the Russian fuze. I cannot tell you which one will fit your round as cannot see the fuze well. It is probably the copy of the US M1907 fuze as that one is seen most often. As for value?????? I've seen them sell for as much as 200.00 US with a fuze to as little as 65.00. If you can give me the information on the fuze well diameter, I can check mine to see which one it takes.