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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Two 18 pounder brass shell cases


RobL

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Two 18 pounder brass shell cases of mine - bought them because they had passed through the North Eastern Railway run munitions works, as shown by the E RY stamp on the bottom. Is there anyway to tell whether they were just repaired or originally made at one of the places shown? Interestingly one of them also went through the Great Western Railway works. Also interested as to what any of the other marks mean apart from dates and CF meaning Cordite Filled

nershell1_zps30909064.jpg

nershell2_zps9be75d14.jpg

Best regards, Rob

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Interesting cases. The first one was originally made by EWBCo.in November 1915 as Lot 2039 (E.W.Bliss & Co of the USA). It has been repaired at the railway workshops, Schleroscoped (S.) and annealed (A) and then reloaded (second "F" in "CFF").

The second case was made by Elswick Ordnance Co. (EOC and part of Vickers), Schleroscoped (S) and annealed (A) and then reloaded (CFF), possibly by Jenkes Machine Co. of Canada (JM). That might also explain the three letter code "IRX" which is typically Canadian.

The other marks are all inspectors stamps.

Regards

TonyE

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Hi Tony, many thanks - what does Schleroscoped and annealed actually mean when referring to the repair of these? Also, as the first case appears to have been repaired twice, by the North Eastern Railway and the Great Western Railway, should it not be CFFF?

Thanks, Rob

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Schleroscoping was a form of X-ray to detect cracks in the case and annealing was to soften the brass by heating and then quenching. This prevented new cracks forming when it was reloaded.

i agree that there seem to have been two repairs, but perhaps it was never loaded after the second repair?

Regards

TonyE

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Unusual Primer Head in the second photo as it has four slots cut into it, normally there is only two for mthe primer key.

John

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The punch marks after the A and the S are also significant, a punch mark denotes one annealing after firing and/or one Schleroscope.

Unusual Primer Head in the second photo as it has four slots cut into it, normally there is only two for mthe primer key.

John

Especially as they aren't equidistant, two look slightly bigger, I wonder if they had become worn.

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