Do you mean is covered up during transport on the pallets as shown and then removed when used for firing ?...
So that means i can paint them green ?
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Campaigns Administrator
Yes, below is a standard 8" (203mm) HE round ready for firing. It has a fuze at the top (aluminum color) as opposed to the shipping plug/lift ring as in the AFV Club kit. It also has the protective cover removed from the soft copper rotating band. As stated, the rotating band makes contact with the lands and groves of the tubes rifling to impart a spin on the round.
U.S. rounds should be fairly safe if unfired, even after all these years. Japanese rounds, on the other hand, are not. The Japanese used Picric Acid for explosive filler in their shells and over time it creates explosive crystals that are nearly as sensitive as nitro.
HE should be OD green with yellow markings, WP should be a light gray with (if I remember correctly)purple markings. Color is important on ordnance, it all means something.
Does anyone have similar info on the WWII rounds markings and paint colors?
Quoted TextHE should be OD green with yellow markings, WP should be a light gray with (if I remember correctly)purple markings. Color is important on ordnance, it all means something.
You are close. WP is light green with red markings. Light gray with red markings is for chemical rounds (chemical smoke).
WP round
This site gives a good run down of US ammo markings. Artillery shells are near the bottom of the page.
Quoted TextDoes anyone have similar info on the WWII rounds markings and paint colors?
I hope some one comes up with this chart-- I can really only address the HE round, and the Chemical filled WWII rounds. Gino posted a photo of the 8" HE round which is pretty darn close to a WWII marking scheme at the very top of his photos. The 8" round pictured is actually an inert training round re-painted to look like a live HE round, as the real fuze would have been a different shade of metal or black for A proximity fuze. The rule of thumb during WWII was all rounds with HE fill or HE bursters would be OD with yellow markings (hence why WWII and later Chemical rounds are OD) The number and type of yellow band at the top and the data stencil are what tells the gunner what's in the round (For WWII). The more modern markings chart that Gino posted were changed from WWII standards to clearly prevent an ordnance officer or gun crew from issuing or firing a lethal chemical or non-lethal round by mistake, which would be bad if you had a non-first use policy like many countries did during the Cold War, or if you were firing smoke when you wanted to fire HE. Somewhere I have an old EOD chart for WWII munitions-- I'll try and find it. Bombs used similar HE OD and yellow markings, although the yellow band on the nose was usually wider. Solid blue rounds today indicate training munitions, which are usually solid aluminum without any HE fill-- but they were unpainted in WWII I believe. Pre WWII, the US used aluminum rounds and even solid weapons for training, as units seldom were at 100% authorization. I had a pre-WWII solid aluminum .45 until I gave it to my neighbor who's a big gun collector a couple of years ago. I guess this is way off topic-- let's hope someone has a chart out there, or I can find my old EOD guide.
VR, Russ
Just a caution on using the chart provided-- it's a post-Korean war marking system--during WWII, US 8" Chemical rounds were painted OD, just like the HE rounds-- but had narrow bands at the top of the round, delineating the type of fill, and were marked with the letters "HD". The chart you referenced is for modern US ordnance markings, and gray might not have been used during WWII, and in many cases even long after, as gray is a more modern color designating smoke munitions.
Quoted TextJust a caution on using the chart provided-- it's a post-Korean war marking system--during WWII, US 8" Chemical rounds were painted OD, just like the HE rounds-- but had narrow bands at the top of the round, delineating the type of fill, and were marked with the letters "HD". The chart you referenced is for modern US ordnance markings, and gray might not have been used during WWII, and in many cases even long after, as gray is a more modern color designating smoke munitions.
Russ, the OD = chemical was never the standard US color marking for chemical munitions as far as I can tell. I've got a 1927 Technical Regulation (precursor to Technical Manuals) for the 155mm howitzer and it gives the color coding as:
High explosive - yellow
Chemical (gas or smoke) - blue-gray
Low explosive (shrapnel) - red
The minor markings on chemical were:
WP - one yellow band
FM - two yellow bands
CN - two green bands
This system was in place since 1925 according to the TR, and before that (1918? - 1925) the only difference was with changes in the number of bands and the stenciling color.
The 1942 edition of TM 9-1900, Ammunition, General, lists the same color scheme with the addition of other band colors. The base chemical munition color was simply called gray.
The band colors were:
HS, M1 (Lewisite, before they coded it L) - two green
CL, CG, PS - one green
CN, DM, etc - one red
WP, FM, etc. - one yellow
TH - one purple
This is the 1945 chart from TM 9-1900
The 1956 edition kept the same system. (This was before nerve agents were standardized.)
Also, neither the 1944 edition of TM 9-1901 Artillery Ammunition or the 1943 or 1945 editions of the SNL P-1 (Heavy artillery projectile catalog) lists any 8-inch chemical rounds.
I wonder what those rounds were?
KL
This may or may not add to your SA - ADHD kicks in on a regular basis so I haven't read through every thread: Prior to Feb 1943 HE rounds projos were yellow with black markings.
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