I’m unsure on id of this shell head

[arantxa]

It has a 11.5 cm diameter by 23 cm height but it ms quite dumpy with a 9cm opening it doesn’t look like a 11cm or 12cm shell can any one advise me on it 

Thanks 

[arantxa]

Thanks 

[peregrinvs]

I think it may be a British 4.5” shrapnel shell.

[Spaceman]

It has the correct dimensions for a British 4.5" shrapnel shell. When the fuze ignited the bursting charge in the base, this blew off the front of the shell (hence the large hole at the front) and ejected the 490 shrapnel balls in the fashion of a shotgun round.

Edited 25 October , 2023 by Spaceman

[arantxa]

Thank you 

I didn’t realise the explosion took off the whole of the top part I was trying to work out how a fuse fitted into it

thanks fir the diagram as well 

[Spaceman]

The shrapnel shell was basically in two parts: body and head. The head (purple in the above diagram) was lightly attached to the body by rivets and twist pins and detached easily when the bursting charge ignited turning the shrapnel shell into a shotgun cartridge.

[arantxa]

Thank you i didnt know that

[trajan]

So, that means the fuze proper was blown off and can survive?

[Chasemuseum]

The survival rate of T&P fuzes from British & French shrapnel shells is very high. Much higher than the fuzes used with HE. Survival of the equivalent German fuzes is lower as these usually had large parts made of zinc which corroded away to nothing after a few years in the ground.

[AOK4]

11 minutes ago, Chasemuseum said:

The survival rate of T&P fuzes from British & French shrapnel shells is very high. Much higher than the fuzes used with HE. Survival of the equivalent German fuzes is lower as these usually had large parts made of zinc which corroded away to nothing after a few years in the ground.

Not only that, a lot of German fuzes also had extra internal detonators to increase the chance on detonation (and thus also increasing the chance that the fuze exploded into bits).