Deformed Shell

[John Cubin]

Hello again. This fellow has come up against something solid enough to alter its shape. Measuring some 10.5 inches long by 3 inches diameter, the drive band and the fuze are long gone. The deformity can best be seen at the nose. I'm not sure if that 'sleeve' thing is the gaine or not. Now squashed to an oval, it would have been about 3/4 inch internal diameter originally and appears to be made of steel. I had thought that gaines were made of brass. This looks to be quite substantial for such a relatively small shell. Anyone care to enlighten me, please?

[coppertales]

Looks like it was a dud and hit something really hard when it terminated it's flight.....chris3

[nigelfe]

Empty shrapnel shell, might have been run over by a tank.

[squirrel]

Or a tractor?

[Gunner Bailey]

If there was a blockhouse nearby I'd sugggest it hit it sideways on perhaps after having its flight disrupted. Never seen that sort of distortion before. I think an iron shell would need more than being run over to get that flat.

John

[Bombadier]

There appears to be a line visible at the point of the bend. Hit by a plough perhaps.

Nigel

[18th Battalion]

I would imagine there are many possible causes including another shell exploding very close by; I don't think it's British though, it doesn't look like my 18pr.

BTW, what is the "gaine"?

Paul

[Gunner Bailey]

I would imagine there are many possible causes including another shell exploding very close by; I don't think it's British though, it doesn't look like my 18pr.

BTW, what is the "gaine"?

Paul

The gaine is the charge that sits behind the fuze. The fuze sets of the gaine and the gaine sets off the main charge. When you see the fuzes ploughed up on the battlefield in almost every case the gaine has disappeared, hence many people not being familiar with them.

John

[johnreed]

A Gaine is what I call an intermediary that is placed between the initiating agent ie(fuze) and the shell filling. The Gaine is between the fuze and the HE Filling and is used to pick up the small but concentrated shock given by the initator and transforms it into a sufficient violent wave to detonate the main filling.

John

[John Cubin]

Thanks for input. I think that anything running over it would simply have pushed it into the ground rather than squashing it. (The shell came to rest in a field to the north of Montauban.) May have struck something hard like concrete but shouldn't it just have shattered? Maybe, it was in an ammo dump which went up and the fuze and drive band were subsequently salvaged by a local. A puzzle.

P.S. Try looking up 'gaine' in your dictionary or even on Google. I come up with zilch. Reckon it must be of French origin?

John.

[nigelfe]

Calibre is consistent with 13-pr. I don't the squashing is consistent with a close blast or richocheting off something solid, I think it must have been on something solid and had weight on it.