US 90mm M58 HE Projectile Dated 1941

[M8owner]

I found this in an antique shop during my travels last week. I thought if was a standard WWII 90mm M71 HE. Turns out it is a pre-war M58 for the M1 antiaircraft gun. I cleaned the rust off it, and now it looks pretty good. I believe the black paint is original. Is there any chance these were actually painted black in the pre-war days?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[HAZORD]

Originally they were painted Yellow with black lettering as service rounds. It was found that they were too thin to take the centrifugal force of firing, so they were repurposed as target practice and drill ammo. So they could have been painted blue with white writing or black with white writing. The M71 was designed with thicker walls to replace the M58.