Unknown Italian WW2 cartridge shell

**aghsmac1** · 03-19-2020, 06:39 PM

Please, let me know if anyone can identify the following Italian cartridge-shell marked SMI (1)940.
It's broken, diameter at the base 15mm and it looks like a Lebel 8mm but it is not. Perhaps a mortar propellant cartridge?
(I upload 2 Lebel 8mm pics from municion.org for comparison).
Thank you in advance, Aghs.

**zwerge** · 03-19-2020, 07:36 PM

Compare it to a 10.4x47R Italian Vetterli cartridge......Pete.

**aghsmac1** · 03-19-2020, 08:00 PM

It looks like, but the year 1940 the Italians produced 10.4x47R Vetterli cartridges-adopted In 1867-?
Aghs

**zwerge** · 03-19-2020, 08:13 PM

by aghsmac1

It looks like, but the year 1940 the Italians produced 10.4x47R Vetterli cartridges-adopted In 1867-?
Aghs

They were shown with 1917 dates.They also made mult-ball loads,maybe they used them for prison guard use? I`m just guessing.....Pete.

**zwerge** · 03-20-2020, 02:29 PM

In the world of handloading and cartridge conversions a different case could be converted to make the case that you need,the 8x50R Lebel case is one that is used to make 10.4x47R Italian cases,and since SMI was making the Lebel case in 1940 this is possibly a Handloaders made case.......Pete.

**aghsmac1** · 03-21-2020, 01:10 PM

Pete, thank you very much for your valuable info.
Finally, i realize that it is very difficult to recognize a shell if its broken. Measuring my own, base is 15mm, thickness 13mm (identical like the Vetterli shell) but overall height is 51mm instead of 47mm and it's not bottlenecked! Perhaps it is a conversion from a much longer shell.
Regards, Aghs