Olaf Greve wrote:
>
> Hi guys,
>
> First off: thanks all for your comments. Then some specific remarks:
>
>
> Alright, from now on I'll try using Chris' terminology a bit more strictly
> and I shall call the "projectile" the "round", and the "cartridge" the
> "casing"... (I hope I got it all right...)
>
Well, not quite. A cartridge is a complete round consisting of;
projectile(bullet), casing, gunpowder and primer. In fixed ammunition
such as you have round and cartridge are the same, or round can refer to
the projectile only.
> Yes, the oxidation is not much of a surprise to me. The rounds have been
> lying in the fields (exposed to rain etc.) for several years. They seem to
> have been made for the majority of a metal which contains iron (as they show
> rust), probably this part is regular (or hardened steel), and something of a
> light shade of metal, which most closely resembles aluminium. Now, supposing
> this is aluminium, I seem to remember that (sea) ships use blocks of
> aluminium as so-called "sacrificial metal", the idea is that aluminium is a
> stronger reductor than the metal of the ship it self, causing the aluminium
> to get oxidised rather than the ship (a simple yet effective trick) [I hope
> I remembered all this correctly from my high school chemistry classes]. So,
> it's not strange indeed to see that the tips of these bullets also got
> oxidised.
The whitish, oxidized metal, is aluminum. It is the ballistic cap that
covers the end of the projectile to give it a good aerodynamic shape.
The different types of ammunition, explosive, incindiary, armor
piercing, practice, all need to have the same ballistic properties
otherwise they will not follow the same trajectory. Not good if they
don't all hit the same aim point. The explosive projectile is called a
shell because it is hollow and filled with explosive with a fuse on the
end. It would be much lighter than an AP projo because the armor
piercing type is solid metal (steel, tungsten, spent uranium, etc). The
AP is, therefore shorter and has an end designed to aid penetration
rather than ballistic flight, therefore it is covered with a cap of
aluminum to provide the same ballistic shape.
>
> [...snip...]
>
> >Even many non-explosive rounds contain tracers spaced apart at least every
> >few rounds.
>
> I have wondered about those, but I think these must be made of some sort of
> material which burns when fired (hence leaving the "light trace"). I doubt
> they would look the same as regular rounds, but perhaps they do...
The projectiles with the hollow bases contained a tracer compound that
was ignited by the propellant charge when the round was fired. It can
give a smoke trace (German WW II practice) or a bright light, usully red
violet.
I'd like to see some pictures of your artillery cases and shells. As an
ex-redleg I still have a soft spot for them.
Jerry Liles
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