Help with a shell case

[Tilly05]

Good afternoon everybody,  il introduce myself as its my first post. 

My name is Al and Im a coach driver. 

On a trip to the somme I came across a empty casing I'v been after one for a while so had a look made sure it was empty and fetched it home. 

Questions I have are, can anyone say a rough guess as to what it was?  Also any tips on cleaning it up?   Iv had wire wheel on with decent results  there's a lot flaking off do assuming it's a steel case? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Thanks Al 

Edited 26 September , 2023 by Tilly05

[Spaceman]

It looks like a British 13-pdr or 18-pdr shrapnel shell. If you can tell us the length and the diameter of the shell body, it will be possible to confirm. Off the top of my head, I think the 13-pdr shell is ~7" long / 3" in dia and the 18-pdr is ~ 9" long / 3.3" diameter.

[Tilly05]

Cheers,  looks like an 18 pdr.  

Any tips for uncovering base markings without removing them? 

[Spaceman]

Nice looking 18-pdr shrapnel shell but, unfortunately, any markings will have disappeared with the rusting outer layer of the steel case.  

[Tilly05]

Thanks for you help,   il have a look at shining it up without the worry of losing markings. Thanks again 

[Spaceman]

For the 18-pdr shells I have in my collection, I took the view that it was worth removing any flaking 'red' rust (Fe2O3.H2O) but it wasn't worth trying to remove the 'black' rust (Fe3O4) which is what is inside the pits you see in the shell case. I simply painted them black which is what the wartime colour would have been for an 18-pdr shrapnel shell (plus the odd red stripe). 

[Tilly05]

Great info,  il have a look around online and see if I can replicate one 

[Spaceman]

The painting of an 18-pdr shrapnel shell is shown below. The black paint signifies it contains a bursting charge of black powder; the red top indicates it is a shrapnel shell and the red ring below that indicates it has actually been filled with explosives.

[Chasemuseum]

As is clearly visible in the drawing above, the profile of the shell varies depending on the type of shell. So in making your shell look presentable, to be authentic you need to match the profile to the colour scheme.

[Spaceman]

It would certainly be worth double checking that this is a shrapnel shell rather than a HE shell. The fuze for the HE shell fitted in a standard 2" dia GS thread in the top of the shell whereas the shrapnel shells used a fuze mounted in a socket that screwed into a ~60 mm diameter thread in the top of the shell. The fuze socket was only weakly attached to the shell and this allowed it and the fuze to be blown off the end of the shell along with the shrapnel balls when the bursting charge ignited.