Mortar ID required

[Burney Davis]

I'm looking for the designation of this mortar. It appears to be 38mm diameter around the body, and possibly 40mm at the tail. Length fin to nose excluding the fuze is 125mm. This is outside my area of knowledge, but I am assuming pneumatic mortar. What is the cut in the tail fin for? And is the fuze (Mle 1935) correct for the projectile? There are no markings on the body.

Thanks in advance.

D

 

[MINENAZ16]

Hello,

I have never seen this projectile in France.
Spigot mortar or rifle grenade.
Could you see markings on fuze (this fuze was used by other countries) ?

Regards

 

[Burney Davis]

Yes my friend, the markings on the fuze are "21/28 B Mle 1935" and "ATS -55-39". Made by Atelier de Construction de Tarbes ?

D

 

[HAZORD]

I don't think it's a mortar. I think it is a small bomb to be hand thrown out of planes, with the cutout in the fin to hang it on till it's ready to be thrown.

 

[Burney Davis]

I don't think it's a mortar. I think it is a small bomb to be hand thrown out of planes, with the cutout in the fin to hang it on till it's ready to be thrown.

Thanks Hazord, but why would there be a depression in the base?

 

[MINENAZ16]

And this fuze could not operate on a bomb.

 

[Yodamaster]

Possibility of a line-throwing projectile ?


Yoda

 

[Burney Davis]

Possibility of a line-throwing projectile ?


Yoda

Thanks for your comment Yoda, but why would it need a fuze, or a body that partially unscrews?

D

 

[glevum]

The fuze looks cleaner than the rest of the round. It could be a later addition.

 

[Yodamaster]

Thanks for your comment Yoda, but why would it need a fuze, or a body that partially unscrews?

D

To initiate a spotting charge to indicate where the end of the line is fallen.


Yoda

 

[RichardB]

Given its shape, i can't see how it could be fired from a tube, it'd surely tilt inside the tube/barrel.
....so I agree with Minenaz16, the indent is surely for some kind of spigot, to fire it from a rifle or similar ??

 

[Bonnex]

Thanks Hazord, but why would there be a depression in the base?

Is the depression in the base the same profile as the fuze adapter?
Is the hole in the base the same diameter as the fuze body?

You know where I am going with this.

Could you tandem two together? Could the slot facilitate clustering? Could the fuze be altered to function an aerial bomblet?

Alternatively, extending Yoda's idea a bit further, would it fit over the inert nose fuze of a practice mortar bomb, (say 81mm) to give a fall of shot indication?

So many questions for such an interesting gadget.

 

[Burney Davis]

Thanks all for the contributions so far. I have had this piece for many years in the 'needs identifying' pile. If I remember correctly I replaced the original fuze, which was damaged, with exactly the same model, and year. Of course this still doesn't mean that the fuze it came with was original to the body.

The depression in the base is approximately 20mm wide and 8mm deep. The existing fuze does not sit comfortably in the depression, but I can see the logic behind the idea. What other fuze with such fine threads might fit the nose? I've tried every other French fuze that I have and none have such fine threads as the model it came with. As Bonnex has said, so many questions .....

 

[MINENAZ16]

Bump this thread.
Nothing new.
Brandt made other strange ordnance for export (not adopted in France)



Listed as 30's swedish rifle grenade

Maybe mother of well known 34mm French rifle grenade series

 

[doctor]

Perhaps a variant mortar bomb for "Baliste System BON" , some proven similarities