WW1 British Gun Cotton Primer Tin

[roller63]

A recent find, a tin for 1oz Gun Cotton Primers. It's had a hard life, looks like it has been used as a mallet at some stage. The paper label from the lid is mostly gone. There is some feint marking on the side, which looks like it might have said "TESTED NOV 1917" but it's really hard to make out. the string attached to the lid seems to be original. I'm interested in the markings on the base of tin, DF Broad arrow III There is a I under the Broad Arrow mark, is this an Indian mark ? Any comments welcome.

 

[TimG]

Indian - yes. No trace for DF.

TimG

 

[Buster]

The letters DF when used on small arms ammunition indicate the British Government arsenal at Dum Dum six miles north of Calcutta, could be the same for the tin which is a cracking find.

 

[roller63]

That's great, thanks. I thought I had seen the Indian Broad Arrow mark before. British Issue WW1 tin made in India, more interesting than I thought.

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

Those used in WW2 were similar, with a screw cap rather than a quick release cap like yours, also painted matt black. The WW2 version - and I suspect yours too - was an inner container, one of six that came in a wooden box. The lid of the wooden box was secured by brass screws. Each inner container held 12 primers, therefore a box held 6 x 12 = 72 primers.

 

[Gspragge]

Check out the 1915 list of stores on this site, if it existed in 1914 you should find it and what ever it went with.