✅ SOLVED Grandpas WWI Shell

tamrock

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Grandpa's WWI Shell

My dear old Grandpa gave me this old shell he used when he was in France. It measures 38mm in dia. on the copper rings of the projectile and is overall 6-3/4 in. long... Unlike my Dad who was in Korea, Grandpa told me all about his war experiece in WWI. When I was young, I had a very stong interest in the planes of WWI. He just said those guys who got in one of those were just, damn fools! and he would see their planes fall from the sky when he was "over there" and what the hell do you think are so great about those no good airplanes he would say?...He gave me this shell he said he used as he was incharge of the gun it was used with. He said he packed and unpacked the small cannon on a mule if I remember correctly. When I was little he always sang a song to me called Goober Peas. I asked why he liked that song and he said that was he and the other soldiers favorite marching song. I looked that song up and found it goes back to the civil war or so it was thought thats were it originated from. I still remember that song after all these years. My grandpa was the most funny man and best Grandpa to me. He fished with no other then a cane pole and it was funny when he took me and my freind fishing and when my freind asked him why he uses such an old fashion fishing pole. He never held back with a piece of his mind and sure gave it to my freind that day. He never drove a car or had a drivers licence, he either walked, took a bus or train, never a plane. The last time me and my grandpa did anything together was skin rabbits, I'd go kill some cotton tails just so gandpa and I could do somthing together as he was very old at that time. I think about him all the time. I also would like to know if you can tell me the rifle he has in a picture took of him when he was in France. He either said it was a Spingfield or Enfield? What ever it is, to him it was his baby and they don't make a better rifle then that. My grandpa is the guy second from the left front. Pvt. Clarence Wick my moms dad. Grandpas favorite holiday was Armistice Day! as America should always remember that day. To him that was very important. He died with some of his old buddys from his time in what he called the Soldiers Home.
 

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Wonderful story. Reminds me much of a great uncle of mine whom I was close with. Brings a little tear to the eye. Sorry cant help with the rifle but thanks so much for telling about your Grand Dad.
 

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That shell is explosive and you need to call your local law enforcement so they can get a bomb disposal team. I'm not joking around, that thing will kill you (or someone else)
 

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That shell is explosive and you need to call your local law enforcement so they can get a bomb disposal team. I'm not joking around, that thing will kill you (or someone else)
That shell isn't live. There's no primer in the base. Even if it were live it would not be any more dangerous than any other bullet so long as it is properly handled and stored (don't hit it with a hammer, throw it in a fire.... etc.) Can you get some measurements of it? It looks to be a 37mm Hotchkiss.
 

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French made M1916 37 mm pack howitzer -- small portible cannon often carried on mules * used to knock out machine gun nest -- I would be sure the shell was defused --if your gramps had a lick of sense I'm quite sure he "disarmed" it but it never hurts to be sure -- is the tip of the nose "hollow"? that's where the "impact" type fuse would normally be at -- the rifle if American would be a 1903 springfeild bolt action rifle in 30-06 its thought of by many as the best military bolt action rifle ever made.
 

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I missed the question about the rifle. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it is either the 03 A3 Springfield as Ivan suggested, or more likely the P-17 Enfield. The Enfield was made under contract in the US by Remington and Winchester and was actualy much more commonly issued than the Springfield since it was cheaper to make.
 

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That shell isn't live. There's no primer in the base. Even if it were live it would not be any more dangerous than any other bullet so long as it is properly handled and stored (don't hit it with a hammer, throw it in a fire.... etc.) Can you get some measurements of it? It looks to be a 37mm Hotchkiss.

It's not a bullet, it's an explosive shell. I'm not worried about it firing, I'm worried about the shell detonating.
 

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That shell isn't live. There's no primer in the base. Even if it were live it would not be any more dangerous than any other bullet so long as it is properly handled and stored (don't hit it with a hammer, throw it in a fire.... etc.) Can you get some measurements of it? It looks to be a 37mm Hotchkiss.
Grandpa punched out the primer and dumbed out the tnt from the war head. I remember him telling me that. Or someone did that?.
 

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That shell isn't live. There's no primer in the base. Even if it were live it would not be any more dangerous than any other bullet so long as it is properly handled and stored (don't hit it with a hammer, throw it in a fire.... etc.) Can you get some measurements of it? It looks to be a 37mm Hotchkiss.
I measured on the copper ring of the projectile at 38mm, so on the lead part it would I guess be 37mm
 

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Is this it?
 

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Looks like they have the Model 1917 Enfield. Here are a couple of pics of one of mine...fires the .30-06 Springfield round same round as the 1903 Springfield rifle.

IMG_2351.jpg





IMG_2350.jpg
 

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Really? A shell will detonate without a fuse or a primer?

Sheesh, dont we wish they had you on the engineering team during WW1, would have saved us so much money! I mean eliminating a primer and a fuse from a "bomb" and still have it be effective would have been revolutionary!

First, quit being a smart-ass because you don't have a ****ing clue what you're talking about. It's not a bomb, it's not a bullet, it's an artillery shell. The projectile <you know, the part that looks like the front of a "bullet"> contains a high explosive core with it's own detonator. The base is merely what launches it. So now, it can't be fired from a howitzer but it's STILL EXPLOSIVE.

High explosives and the detonators have a funny way of reacting with their metal casings and becoming shock sensitive over time. In this case almost 100 years worth of time.
 

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tamrock says his gramps --"demilled" it -- took the fuse and "explosive" charge out of the "nose" of the shell and dumped the powder and removed the primer --ie the shell is now a "safe -dud" shell (since it can't be "fired" or "explode")-- as a trained WW1 artilleryman his gramps would know exactly how dangerous a "live shell" would be --and only a moron would keep one around ) ---tamrock yes that is the type of weapon it went to a fremch made M 1916 37mm portible "pack" cannon -(pack mules were often used to "lug" them around on from place to place)- these small 37 mm cannons were used to knock out german machine gun nest with explosive shells from a safe distance
 

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Yup, the only way a demilled shell can hurt you is if you drop it on your toe. Even if it were live it wouldn't just spontaneously explode for no reason. Live UNFIRED shells don't tend to go off unless someone tampers with them, usually someone trying to disarm them who doesn't know what they are doing. FIRED shells however are a whole other story. A fired but unexploded shell can detonate from the slightest jolt, all it takes is to jostle whatever was jamming the fuse assembly to cause a tragedy.
 

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I would say the rifles are Enfields as well. Great story too. Thank you for sharing.
 

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You can't see the sights in the photo, but the giveaway between an Enfield and Springfield is the rear sight. A Springfield has an open rear leaf sight, as seen in the photos.

1903-Springfield-Rifle.jpg 1903 sight.jpg
The Enfield has a totally different rear sight, and if you compare the front sights you will see that they are different also. From what I can see of the front sights in your
photo the rifles look like Enfield's to my eye.

1917 enfield.jpg
I loved your story, and if Grandpa said the shell is deactivated then trust him and don't listen to the nay sayers. If you talk to the police they won't know the difference,
and will blow it up. If it was mine it would go on a shelf for display with my other stuff.
 

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Thanks all! for the kind words and very interesting information. I sure do enjoy receiving your opinions. My dear old grandpa was a real jewel to me. Born in 1892 he was. He was older then most the grandads of freinds, but the knowledge he instilled upon me is what keeps me holding my head high. He lived through the first flight at Kitty Hawk to the landing on the moon, though that didn't impress him much. At the crash in 1929 he didn't have steady work for five years and made it just fine through all that. I have so many wonderful memories of hiking in the bluffs and fishing the river as he lived on the Mississippi in Burlington Iowa most all his life. Most valuble treasure he gave me was to not to ever let life or anyone person beat you down. That treasure has been very handy to have around at times in my life. He was The Man, The Moment with The Machine in WWI. Oh ya! lets not forget the Mule. Not sure all the battles could have been won without that beast. So, lets all say hale to the Mule the undercarriage of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle of my Grandpa's time.

So Sorry! I didn't tell all of you the shell was disarmed, Thought that was a given.
 

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