German 7.7cm Ex projectile colour

[Burney Davis]

The attached pictures are of an early 7.7cm Ex projectile with Dopp Z/c 96 fuze. The projectiles of this type that I have seen in other calibre's have been painted red. This paintwork does appear to be original but has been lacquered to protect it at some
point. Does anyone know if this is the correct colour? Could it be that the colour changed to red on the later projectiles? Your thoughts appreciate. Thanks.





D

 

[Gspragge]

I always thought that red indicated drill or practice on ordnance examples, ww1 practice stick grenades and granetenwerfer projectiles come to mind.
Hence the survival of any such red painted items.

 

[Alpini]

A late paint instruction (1914) was: blue paint with yellow head for the F.Gr.96. The 1901 instruction for the "Exerziergeschoss": It must have the same color as the live shell with the letters "Ex" applied on the cylindrical part of the shell.

But your shell is the oldest model of the F.Gr.96. About the early 96 shells is not much known but I hope to find some info during the next weeks.

 

[Burney Davis]

I thought I would clean the base to take a better look at the markings. Why would there be n/A on this early shell as it clearly isn't a new pattern/model?