7.7 cm Feld Kanone Shell case

Accession Number RELAWM01880.004
Collection type Technology
Object type Munition
Maker Allgemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft
Place made Germany
Date made 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Steel shell case, designed to be fired from a German FK 16 or FK 96/n/a light field artillery piece. Headstamped: AEG 1917 1217 Length 229mm

History / Summary

Shortages of copper led the German nation towards the use of shell cases manufactured from steel, in substitution for the more normal practice of manufacture from brass. Given the readiness of such material to corrosion, this must have presented enormous difficulaties in keeping munitions clean and useable. The lower ductility of the steel must also have presented problems in achieving shell case obturation within the gun barrel. The survival of such shell cases is extremely uncommon.

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