Riegel Mine 43 shear wire

[BMG50]

Anyone know what the type of shear wire the Riegel mine 43 used. Somewhere i read it was brass but i read somewhere else its was steel wire as there was mention that the mine can become sensitive over a period of time because of it rusting away, or did they use both?

 

[stecol]

Hi BMG50,

As far as I know Riegel Mine 43 used steel wire, which was the Achilles heel of the entire ignition system, just because prone to rust rapidly altering the triggering.
I don't know if to overcome this problem has been used of brass wire, but I think it was a field expedient.

Regards
stecol

 

[sudelmuk]

Gentlemen, I agree with the steel wire. Not sure if an even thicker brass wire, limited by the diameter of the loop hole, would have been strong enough to keep the provided safety load of 200kg on the ends and 400kg on the center of the body?