Re-used 75mm Case?

[5th Armored]

Hi All-
I recently acquired a 75mm Sherman case from one of the fine members on here and it made me wonder - were large-bore cases ever reloaded? The case is stamped 1942 but the primer is stamped 1943 and I don't think given the war effort that a shell would have sat around for a year waiting to be loaded. Any thoughts?
Cheers
Chris

 

[HAZORD]

Well, the only difference in time between 1942 and 1943 was when new year's eve changed to new years day. With unknown numbers of manufacturers making cases and primers all at different manufacturing rates (cases per hour or day or week), and primers per hour or week etc. it was very easy to get a one or two year difference in dates for newly manufactured items. The people that made the primers most likely didn't make the cases. The primer and case were assembled at an arsenal after they were shipped there from their original manufacturer. Cases are manufactured in lots (specific quantities hundreds or thousands). They will start out as slugs of brass and be drawn and annealed repeatedly till they are the right size, maybe 20 to 100 steps. Once completed they are packaged and shipped to the arsenal where they are stored till needed. Some 1942 dated cases got stuck in the back of the warehouse and weren't able to be pulled out till 1943. Since the primers are much smaller, they are easier to move, so their date and the real loading date are newer and more likely to coincide.

Some large cases are reloaded, but the hassle of trying to ship them back to a factory for resizing was more hassle than just making new ones for some nations, whereas other nations with minimal resources reloaded theirs.

 

[bacarnal]

In full agreement with HAZORD, I'll add this. The idea of stock rotation (first in, first out) seems to have been lacking in WWII manufacturing. As is evidenced with M1 Service Rifle (Garand) and M1 Carbine production as an example, early parts are present on weapons known to be pristine later date production and when they should have later parts. When you're getting low on certain items and they stock your bin, the few parts you had left are stuck in the bottom under the new stuff till you run low again. Yes, they used to re-load the canon shells and even in the field as cost saving measures between the wars, but once WWII mass (and I do mean really mass) production kicked in, it was easier to just recycle/smelt the casings than re-load. It's amazing what happens to industry when you effectively halt consumer production and turn it all over to military production. Mind boggling. Cheers, Bruce.

 

[raymeketa]

When big ordnance was fired, the cases were policed and stowed for delivery back to contractors who either reloaded them or recycled the brass. A lot of time could elapse between the two. In the USN, the empty cases were stowed in voids and other available places and were kept there until the ship returned to a port capable of handling them. This could be months, even in the peacetime Navy.

Smaller cases, such as 20mm and 40mm were routinely shoveled overboard, but every effort was made to salvage the bigger ones. Much to the chagrin of the Gunners Mates who would rather be drinking coffee than stowing fired cases. Many a 3" and 5" case was accidently kicked overboard in the process of policing them.

Even entire cartridges and projectiles were sometimes deep-sixed in the interest of getting back to the important things like chow.

I doubt if the Artillery guys would stoop to such things.

Ray

 

[EOD]

Agreeing with all above I'd like to add that I have seen Russian 76mm ZIS-3 ammo loaded with post war design projectiles and cases from 1938 and the round was still in official stock in 2003.
I have seen once a Finnish 75mm Pak (German surplus after 1945) which was made of steel and had 13! reloading marks. Brass cases I have seen with even more but do not remember the details as for nation, cal., etc.

 

[Boremax]

Regarding the reloading of large bore brass shells. I have some
quantity of 45mm Russian manufactured brass dated in 1939. I
have samples of Finnish reloads dating from 1944 to 1991. Most
were reloaded 2-4 times. The Finnish loading data is stenciled on
the side of the cases. The base is marked with a center punch dimple.
This indicates the reloading history of the brass case.
Keep in mind all the cases have Russian manufacture dates of 1939.
Following WW2 Finland kept some 500 or so of captured and purchased
Russian 45mm anti tank guns until the early 1990's.

Boremax (a big bore shooter)