3" WWI US Artillery Shell

I picked up what I believe to be a 3" US artillery shell yesterday. Covered in three layers of paint, silver on gold on orange. I got most of the silver and gold off but the orange is being a bit persistent.

Definitely US. Has the ordnance bomb on the base along with being on the side. The one on the side is overstamped with a large 5.

Manufacturer is S.B.M.C.
Lot appears to be 5-7581-16 (does this mean it was produced in May of 1916?)

Other markings include an H in a box an S in a circle a second ordnance bomb on the side just above the overstamped one that is partially obscured by rust. a second S in a circle near the bottom, a Z near the bottom and a Z near the top and a 2 two thirds up. Most of the markings are in a straight line from bottom to top. It's missing its fuse and is a bottom fused hollow shell which I believe makes it a high explosive.

None of the markings were visible till I got the paint off.

Any additional information on manufacturer and Lot number would be appreciated.

Love to see pics of it... Or do we need to wait until you have it stripped?

How tall is the casing ?

I couldn't find anything to match your S.B.M.C markings........ but your possible date got me wondering if it may be from a 37mm M1916 ?
The Ole 1lb'er, but 37mm can really bring many weights and lengths to the table.

A link here to one made in the US. This gives some measurements:

37mm shell for M1916 Infantry Gun "One Pounder | #25473715

Big difference between a 37mm and a 3 inch shell. It's three inch. I'd like to get it stripped but ran out of the stuff so I'll probably get some pics up soon. Probably paint it with a thin coat of black paint once I'm done. As for length, 11 3/4 inches. Weighs a lot more than one pound also.

http://cartridgecollectors.org/image...s/bfcommon.jpg

It looks just like the one on the right minus the expansion ring (right place right size, just not there) and the black paint. It was basically this photo that I identified it with. 3" field gun round.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

As for length, 11 3/4 inches.

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Big reason I was guessing, by using the date you stated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by painter777

but 37mm can really bring many weights and lengths to the table

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Sorry I wasted your time enjoy your project

You didn't waste my time. If you are confirming that is the format for the date and it's what I suspect, that's a huge help. I also appreciate any effort to ID the manufacturer even if you can't find it.

I think that Charlie may have assumed that you had the casing as well as the actual shell? The way that I'm reading it is that you just have the shell but no casing?

Just the shell.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../MAEYQhP-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../GhtL67w-1.jpg

This is where scotchbrite and oil will help. I have an 18 Pounder I just cleaned up and I think it looks much better clean than scrubby. I won't repaint... Too bad about the driving band, they were slipped on and rolled to close fit.

Taken off after the conflict as copper was in such short supply for obvious reasons nice projie.....

You say its 3" diameter. That's not far off 75mm. Just a thought that it could be an American production 75mm for the French Field Gun of that calibre.
I have a 75mm shell case by Remington for the French field gun; which is why I thought of that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 30Three

You say its 3" diameter. That's not far off 75mm.

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3" = 76.2mm

A 3" diameter object will not fit into a 75mm diameter hole because it is larger. A 75mm diameter object will fit into a hole of 3" diameter, with 1.2mm of clearance, because it is smaller.

This is what it should look like. The band allows the rifling to bite into and rotate the shell when it cannot bite into the steel projectile. This looks like an English version of a shell for the French 75. It is from the First WW brought home by my father a veteran of the AEF. The US Army continued to use this after WWI and I suspect that your projectile is a later version

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

The projectile has been disarmed of course. I even have some shell casings.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet
An Assembled round

The French often made vases out of them

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

The smaller rounds are One Pounders, also dis armed and made into momentos.


FWIW

When I bought it, I thought it might be a 75MM. I was doing searches for tank rounds before buying it and pretty much coming up empty I hate buying things "unknown" and the price while not extreme made me think about it. $45 which for a shell that size seemed reasonable in any case and I was in a somewhat foul mood. Buying military stuff tends to make the day go better so I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about it. I'm not likely to sell it anyway. First thing I did when I got home was try fitting it into a 75mm casing. It does not fit. It does however fit into a German 76MM casing but it isn't German. At the time I didn't know it was US. Could see no markings at all through the paint. Measuring, it is slightly smaller than 3" but that's at the base and the shoulder of the nose appears to be slightly wider. I don't have calipers to get an accurate measuerement.

Beats me,
But I'd think with the Crossed Cannons it HAS to be US made. Maybe made for an Ally, but surely US made.

For all I know it's for a 3" for the Hotchkiss Mtn Gun used in the Spanish vs American conflict......... :dunno:

Some Ammo Lengths and measurements: 3 Inch Hotchkiss Gun

It's the Markings I Just Gotta Know !
Are you sure it's S.B.M.C ?
Is it really a M...... or a VI ?

Good Luck

Flying 10; I am aware that there is a difference between 75mm and 3" .
But seeing as we don't know if it's been measured with a micrometer or just an imperial tape measure across the base; I just thought it may be worth looking at!
It will be interesting to see what it is.

I've been researching my 4" Kriegsmarine U-Boat deck gun shell casing and can say without a doubt that "metric vs inch vs actual projectile diameter" is not as cut and dry as you'd think. The throat on my shell is 4.06" the projectile is listed as 10,5 cm. According to various WWII literature converted to PDF, Germans referred to their gun bore sizes in very rough terms. My shell is technically a 105mm, but is commonly called a 4". So don't get too hung up on sizing nomenclature, it's relative to country of origin, language, service branch, etc as to what a shell was called...

Russ

I did post photos, they are on page 1 if you guys missed them. The initials look pretty firm to me. They are all divided by periods also. I measured the base with a crappy wooden ruler so not very precise. The crossed cannons are on it in three places but none is complete. Definitely looks like the US mark however.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I don't have calipers to get an accurate measuerement.

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You don't have to pay big money to get yourself a digital vernier callipers, nowadays, of adequate quality for the sort of use that you want to put them to and they are of sufficient accuracy for measuring shells etc. In the UK you would be looking at somewhere in the region of around £20 for 6"/150mm digital callipers suitable for home/occasional use.

Obviously, if you were looking to start your own engineering business and use your callipers 24/7 you would probably wish to spend a little more and get something of better quality.