Reproduction German 37mm APHE Pak Projectile

[M8owner]

The German 3.7 cm Pak APHE round has proven to be quite elusive on this side of the pond. I did find the correct AP projectile for the 37mm flak round. Rather than wait, I went ahead and made one until I can find the real thing. It is now crimped into the shell casing - I did not finish the bottom of the projectile with the explosive cavity. I had posted pictures on this site of my reproduction French 47mm previously. Both projectiles are made out of steel with brass driving bands swaged on and then turned down to size. It does take several hours (for me) to carve the ballistic tip on the lathe. The WWII German ordnance collection is getting better slowly.

 

[SG500]

Great lathe work.
I had a dig in the spares box and came up with this, don't know if its of use to you.
Dave.

 

[M8owner]

Dave!

You are my new best friend.

Steve

 

[M8owner]

Dave is the greatest. It only took seven days for it to get here from the UK. No issues in the shipment. It is shown on its new home: "G" or 1935 dated brass casing. It also has a nice BD 5103 base fuse installed now. It is shown next to the repro projectile and my FLAK 37mm projectile. I modeled the repro on the FLAK round. I did not realize the driving band was different till now. It is also interesting to note that the FLAK and the PAK casings here are both Polte made and "G" date cods. Both have Waffenamt No. 107. I also have a LIG18 brass casing from Polte with "G" date code and the No. 107 Waffenamt. Was it one inspector for all the munitions from one plant?

 

[Tmine35]

WaA-number was not for one inspector's personal use only. It was rather an office number for certain production plant. Several inspectors and workers used the same number, sometimes also in several smaller plants. Usually maker's letter code and WaA-numer belong together, but exceptions exist.