.50 cal trio!

[Spitace41]

Hi all. I thought I would show you these boot sale finds. Although I already have a couple, I cannot seem to turn down reasonably priced . 50 cartridges

From left to right:

.50 Spotting rifle round, as used in the spotting rifle for the M40 recoilless rifle (I bought the cartridge only and married it up to a spare bullet that I had lying around), manufactured: Frankford Arsenal, 1959.

.50 Cartridge manufactured: St. Louis Ordnance Plant, 1944.

.50 Cartridge manufactured: Royal Ordnance Factory- Spennymoor (UK) 1943. This cart strikes me as unusual in so much as I have not seen a British made .50 case before, and also the hole drilled in it resembles a dummy round, although judging by the base the round was fired so I am unsure of the reason for the hole.

I may well make a point of collecting .50 cal rounds as from just studying the few I have, I have learned that there is a lot of variation and it is a very interesting subject (also they look impressive). Thanks for looking

[TonyE]

The bullet in your Spotter round is wrong of course as it comes from a normal .50 BMG round. It should have an open nose with a primer visible and a red and yellow tip as per attached photo.

Spennymoor made many millions of .50 BMG in 1942-45, including ball, AP, day tracer (white tip), night tracer (Grey tip), incendiary and dummy. They also made a lot of experimental AP and some explosive. Some examples from my collection shown.

I think your round has the hole simply to inert it. The dummy should have four small holes.

Regards
TonyE

[Spitace41]

Cheers Tony. I know the spotter round is wrong, but unfortunatly I do not have the correct round kicking about lol

[Spitace41]

Also, would the Brit made one have been issued to US forces, or were they mainly for use in British Aircraft and machine guns? Cheers.

[TonyE]

The British made ones were for issue to British forces.

Whilst we used millions of rounds of US .50 in British aircraft, we did not like some of their ammo, particularly the US incendiary round which was considered too liable to premature in the bore. Also the RAF wanted their own day and night tracers.

I appreciate the problem of getting the correct bullet for you M48 spotter case. They are after all Section 5.

REgards
TonyE

[Spitace41]

Cheers Tony. Sorry its taken me a while to reply. I wasnt happy having an incorrect bullet in the spotter case after all so whipped it out and put it in the Spennymoor instead

[TonyE]

No problem.

One of the things you will find with original Spennymoor projectiles is that they have a more pointed ogive than US bullets and have a very small meplat. You can see the difference in this picture of an FA drill on the left and a Spennymoor drill on the right.

Cheers
TonyE