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Unknown WWII - German?

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A long time ago, in a land far away, there was a site. This site was a wonderful place, with many, many items (both energetic and toxic) recovered from it. While mostly German pieces, American and British munitions were found in quantity as well. Some earlier items were also found (WWI), with limited amounts from Italy and France. While some associated component items were also found at this location (bomb fins, etc) it was strictly an ordnance site, no general trash or weapons.

At different areas on this site, found mixed in with German projectiles, five identical copies of the piece in the photos was found.

43cm long, the item is 100mm in diameter. At the flared portion (34cm mark) it is 104mm in diameter. There is a boat-tail at the rear.

The first break at the 11cm mark is believed to have been cut into the item in an attempt a decade or two ago to determine the fill of the item. The groove at the 22cm point is manufactured into the item.

In examining the base there are three equally spaced points which may have been hinged. I would suggest that once there were fins, but this could just be my imagination and wishful thinking.

I have an x-ray of the item, but am unable to open it since it was given to me as it is an unfamiliar format (fts extension). The x-ray shows a somewhat complicated internal view, with some void and a spring (if memory serves me, maybe 8cm long, 3cm diameter, 3-4mm thick) in the rear third of the item, running linear.

If its in any of my books, I have yet to find it. I'd like to call it a projectile, but I cannot even do that for certain. No one I have asked to date has any idea, but this forum has a long reach. Anyone up to the challenge? Appreciate the help.
 

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Pretty sure its the tip from a whale harpoon ? Looks quite simmilar. with pieces missing at the rear, internal spring controls the barbs that spring in and out from rear section.
 
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While there are some similarities, I don't think that this is it. This has the size and weight of a full up 105mm projectile, which seems inconsistent with the photo. There is no means of attachment for the vanes near the nose, and I don't think that the spring I saw on the X-ray is nearly strong enough for the fins shown on your piece. It would be interesting to see the harpoon head with the fins removed though - any idea what the diameter is?

In addition, there was no sea-ordnance present seen at this location, and it is not near a coastal area. As I mentioned, I saw no miscellaneous stuff (non-ord) there, just bombs, mortars, projos and the like. If this were a harpoon head, it would seem very much out of place for it to be at this site. But I suppose stranger things have happened.
 
I don't think that this is a harpoon bomb.

I have one of the harpoon bombs shown in Nismosonic's pictures at home, but don't have a picture with me. I won't be back home for 7 weeks.

It is from memory about 400mm long, hollow, with a base diameter of about 100mm.

The base has a coarse screw thread for attaching to the rest of the round and the four small vanes are cast into the tip.

I think XNview should be able to open a .fts file and then convert it to a more common format.

Will.
 
Early bomb harpoon heads didnt have the vanes on the nose of the bomb, (as shown in the photo on the web link) Harpoon bombs have a diameter ranging from 60mm up to about 160mm, the Thor-Petersen Nowegian explosive harpoon head has a diameter of 105mm and has no nose vanes, but does have the recess and the flare to the rear. I cannot find any images or data of this head though, to prove this.
In my early days of collecting ordnance i had one in my collection that had come from the Falkland Islands, and it was very simmilar to your photos, just didnt have the forward recess. The date for the item i had was about 1905.
I believe the head contained black powder that exploded on impact killing the whale, this force also drove the spring back and forced the barbs outward to grip the inside of the now deceased whale.
Im not saying 100% that this is what your item is, having owned one in the past, it has a very close resemblance, so just putting forward an idea as to the possibility.
 
Where would be the best place to look for a reference? Is there a BHCN? It would be pretty cool to find a good book on these - someone should know. I looked at about 20 pages of Google images and didn't seen anything too promising.
 
I have also spent a lot of time trawling through images on google and Bing... I cannot find an exact match either, sorry.
 
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