Manu Della Valle Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 The ones who collect ordnance won't consider this round something to write home about but I think it's interesting nonetheless!It comes from a stash found in a barn in Southern France in the late 90s.The owner of the barn,who accidentally is a very advanced collector of WW2 German Militaria found a stash of ammo in one of the old barns on his properties and duly called the local Gendarmerie.They came with a squad of French Army's Artificiers Demineurs who took the whole lot.A few days later a friend at the local police station came back with a surprise;the owner of the barn asked one of the Engineers if he could have a few 20mm deact rounds and this guy deacted THE WHOLE CRATE and a few more "loose" rounds!He tried as much as he possibly could not to damage the shells and cases,carefully deacted the fuses,fired the primers one by one (must have been quite "funny"!) BUT...threw away ALL the silk bags containing the propellant AND FORGOT the tracer compound at its place at the base of the rounds!It's the compound that was ignited by the burning powder and not WP as found on some Italian Breda 20mm ammo,or else we'd have been in for some unwanted pyrotechnics...ask me how I know! What's interesting is the Kriegsmarine eagle on the "Sprenggrenade mit Rote Leuchtspur" (HE round with red tracer) and how the cardboard tube and the bakelite laquer the case had been coated with have passed the test of time inside a barn (not so the paint on the shell,though!),for as dry and well kept the latter may have been let's not forget that this was one of the "loose" rounds laying on the straw! Cheers Manu 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major General Waffenamt Posted May 10, 2016 Major General Share Posted May 10, 2016 Great write up,nice item. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manu Della Valle Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Thank you @Waffenamt...not as amusing a story as Dave's but still a funny one!Well...there's nothing funny in throwing away 100 beautifully stamped silk powder bags! Cheers Manu Edited May 10, 2016 by Manu Della Valle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 A thing of beauty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manu Della Valle Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) So glad you like that @Steve T !It's just an ordinari 20mm round but it comes with a provenance and a funny story!Every time I look at it I cannot help chuckling thinking about that bloke deacting primers!My friend has told me that the Sapeur left the empty cases in diesel fuel to soak the primers,dried them with compressed,put them in a vice and hit the primer cups "just in case"...the funny thing is that German primers are top notch and that the Berdan holes are so small,even in such a relatively large case, that the diesel fuel didn't get into many of them.hence many! Can you imagine this guy with earmuffs and goggles deacting primers?I'm sure he knew what he was doing,being a member of a French Army EOD unit but he reminds me of Mr. Bean! Edited May 16, 2016 by Manu Della Valle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manu Della Valle Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) . Edited May 16, 2016 by Manu Della Valle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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