Help with Primer and Fuze please

[wmfinch]

Hello All,

 

I am posting this on behalf of a friend, and we would really appreciate some help on the markings of both the Fuze and the Primer.  We have identified everything on the actual 4.5 inch Howitzer Cartridge Case.

 

We THINK the Fuze may have been reworked for use with a 6 pounder shell and the Primer MAY be a rarer reused example.  

 

Info, opinions will be welcomed.

 

With thanks,

 

V/R

 

Wayne

 

 

[Gunner Bailey]

Reused primers are not rare. Many shell cases were reworked and refilled up to 4 times before scrapping. I have seen primers stamped up to three times.

[wmfinch]

Ah thanks Gunner Bailey.  I understood that it was only the No 1 mark 2 Fuzes that could reused, but on reflection, I guess there were millions of them made, so even if a small proportion were suitable for reuse, that would still make a lot of them.

 

V/R

 

Wayne

 

 

[14276265]

The straightforward bits first: fuze made by Great Eastern Railway Stratford, and the primer by the Gramophone Company, Middlesex.

 

The fuze has been reworked to include a shutter as safety, and remarked accordingly as a No.101 E. Original Lot number has been cancelled. The 101 was not used with 6pr; the base diameter is actually wider than the 57mm of a 6pr shell.

 

The primer has been refilled (No.1 MkII primers - if in good enough condition to be reused - were only ever refilled once) at Cardonald NFF, and in the process has been modified from standard MkII, hence the asterisk. Original filling date of April 1916 has been cancelled.

 

 

265

 

Edited 14 October , 2018 by 14276265

[wmfinch]

'265', once again you come up trumps!

 

Many thanks once again!