15mm Besa drill round - WW2 dated - A rare beast

[Steve T]

Hi all

In the immortal words of a fellow forum member and collector, please enjoy this gound dug 15mm Besa drill round. It cleaned up nicely and was donated to my collection by Bryn Garrett. Many thanks Bryn.....I owe you one !!!!

Dated 1943 and made by Kynoch (ICI), it really is an awesome round.







Steve T

[COLT 1911A1]

Hi all

In the immortal words of a fellow forum member and collector, please enjoy this gound dug 15mm Besa drill round. It cleaned up nicely and was donated to my collection by Bryn Garrett. Many thanks Bryn.....I owe you one !!!!

Dated 1943 and made by Kynoch (ICI), it really is an awesome round.







Steve T

Awesome find...
Haven't seen one before...
Regards, Thanos.

[lithgow]

Where was it found? -as far as I was aware the 15mm Besa was only used in some of the Humber armoured cars.

[Steve T]

Colt - Thanks Me neither

Lithgow - You mean to tell me you haven't seen this thread........

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/battl...-2011-a-76819/

......

That's where it was found

Steve T

[Nick Hessens]

A keeper!

Regards

[Falschirmjager]

Hi all

In the immortal words of a fellow forum member and collector, please enjoy this gound dug 15mm Besa drill round. It cleaned up nicely and was donated to my collection by Bryn Garrett. Many thanks Bryn.....I owe you one !!!!

Dated 1943 and made by Kynoch (ICI), it really is an awesome round.







Steve T

Steve, This is not a 15mm Besa round but a Boys Anti Tank rifle cartridge round. The 15mm Besa round had a brass unbelted case 104mm in length and was designated 15mmx104. The Besa rounds also had different headstamping and primer. 15mmx104 Besa cases were manufactured in brass and both service and drill rounds had unbelted cases. The Germans did use a small quantity of captured 15mmx104 Besa Tank gun rounds only fitting them with 15-mm MG151 Mauser bullets in place of the original Besa ones. This is good round all the same and worth a few quid nowadays. I have a 15mm Besa cartridge case in my collection but dont have it to hand but will dig it out and find out the headstamp. Hope this helps and cheers. Tim Heath.

[Steve T]

Tim

Many many thanks for the correction. We knew that there were 15mm Besa rounds at this site because of the large number of ammunition cans we've uncovered. Due to these ammo cans, we assumed the round to be a 15mm Besa drill.

However, you are absolutely correct that it is a .55 Boyes. The belting should have been a give away but, having never personally finding either before, jumped to the wrong conclusion because of the ammo cases !

Cheers

Steve T

[Falschirmjager]

Tim

Many many thanks for the correction. We knew that there were 15mm Besa rounds at this site because of the large number of ammunition cans we've uncovered. Due to these ammo cans, we assumed the round to be a 15mm Besa drill.

However, you are absolutely correct that it is a .55 Boyes. The belting should have been a give away but, having never personally finding either before, jumped to the wrong conclusion because of the ammo cases !

Cheers

Steve T

Hi Steve, Yes noticed the pile of 15mm Besa ammo cans you found. Somewhere there just has to be one or more of those rare 15mm rounds there and what a find a stash of those would be!! That Boys has got to be worth between £5-£8 as they are not that commonly found these days! Fingers crossed that you do find that stash of 15mm's as that would be one hell of a good find indeed Steve. Cheers Loads, Tim.

[m3bobby]

I'll have to post a photo of my ground dug Boys round to show you how bad they can get! The projectiles on my rounds have bubbled and it can only be the armour piercing core degrading and causing the bubbling. I've also got a Boys AT rifle to go with them.

Unfortunatly its so big it lives in the attic with my other stuff.

[tonyb]

a live boyes rifle round in this country [australia]is worth about $50 the rifle itself $3000 to $5000 depending on condition.