German 88 Round

**outpost** · 08-09-2016, 04:36 PM

Hi' Guys, Spotted this one marked as 88 flak. Could it be a 88 king tiger round? Thanks in advance
PS No visible markings due to rust etc

**Martin Bull** · 08-09-2016, 05:53 PM

It's certainly armour-piercing, not Flak. With the necked casing it looks like a PaK/Kwk43 round, although ( maybe it's just a poor photo ) I'm not 100% certain about the driving bands. On a Pak43, the upper one should be flat-topped, the lower one rounded in section, and they are wider apart than they look in the pics......

**kradman** · 08-10-2016, 04:53 AM

yes looks to be a Kwk round from the photos shown , a photo of the base of the shell would tell more

**Wagriff** · 08-10-2016, 04:55 AM

Either way, it's a damn nice shell.

**JimMcR** · 08-10-2016, 10:21 PM

I purchased this shell on Tuesday. Have taken photos of the shell base and head and will post shortly. Afraid that the base is fairly corroded and I can,t make out any markings.

**JimMcR** · 08-10-2016, 10:37 PM

Photos as promised

**Martin Bull** · 08-11-2016, 08:36 AM

It's a Pak43 case fitted with an armour-piercing projectile from the Flak 18/36. The recognition point is the driving bands - here are two from my collection. The one fitted with the base fuze is a Flak 18/36 ( narrower driving bands ) and the other is from a PaK/KwK43 ( much broader driving bands ).

You have a nice item there - I'd have bought it !

**Hosa** · 08-19-2016, 07:10 PM

by Martin Bull

It's a Pak43 case fitted with an armour-piercing projectile from the Flak 18/36. The recognition point is the driving bands - here are two from my collection. The one fitted with the base fuze is a Flak 18/36 ( narrower driving bands ) and the other is from a PaK/KwK43 ( much broader driving bands ).

Both narrow and wide drivingbands were used for the Pak/Kw.K. 43.
HE shells (same shells as used for Flak 41), 8,8 cm Pzgr. 39-1, Pzgr 39-1 AL and the hollow charge Gr. 39 HL all had narrow drivingbands, and were shot by Pak/Kw.K. 43.
The narrow banded shells for Kw.K./Pak 43 were marked with 4 white stripes just above the drivingband, indicating that these shell were only to be fired from new barrels, with less then 500 shots fired.
When used in older, worn, barrels, these shells sometimes became unstable in flight, which led to the new shelldesign with the broader drivingbands.

Jim's Pzgr has copper/steel drivingbands, so it's an early type, most likely shot by Flak 18.
@Jim: how big is the fuze cavity ?