Picture of the day

[Grizzly Adams]

Canary Girls: WW 1 Women Who Turned Yellow

Picric acid, an explosive used in shell filling compounds, but also as a dye. Usually stored under water for safety. Also reactive with metal to form unstable compounds. Hardly pick and shovel material.

Grizz

 

[Sharps '74]

Canary Girls: WW 1 Women Who Turned Yellow (Click)

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Female munitions workers guide 6 inch howitzer shells being lowered to the floor at the Chilwell ammunition factory in Nottinghamshire, UK. July 1917
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Munition workers in a shell warehouse at National Shell Filling Factory No.6, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire in 1917.
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Women workers preparing nitre to be taken to the Gretna munitions factory.
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Female workers painting aerial bombs in a factory, June 1918
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Female workers in the Finishing Room, No. 14 National Filling Factory, Hereford.
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View attachment 311577

Bottom pic .... .303 rifle cases? Primers on table? What are they doing? Doesn't look like they're stuffing in Cordite.

 

[sail32]

The canopy suggests a Hawker Hotspur, a derivative of the Hawker Henely.

Hawker Hotspur.

https://edward-210.livejournal.com/3234937.html


Hawker Hotspur:

https://forums.ubisoft.com/showthread.php/452824-A-short-Quiz-to-test-ur-knowledge

"K 8309 was the only Hawker Hotspur built. It was derived from the Hawker Henley which was originally planned as a two seat light bomber, but went into RAF service as a target tug.
The Hotspur was Hawker's response to the request for a turret fighter, but the contract was placed with Boulton Paul resulting in the Defiant.

Also; https://edward-210.livejournal.com/3234937.html

 

[Ganderite]

Bottom pic .... .303 rifle cases? Primers on table? What are they doing? Doesn't look like they're stuffing in Cordite.

The cordite goes into the case when it is a straight wall. Then it gets bumped into the bottleneck shape.

And the primer insertion is automated. My guess is that they are inspecting each case and putting in a block, primer up, to see the primer, too.

 

[fraserdw]

Bottom pic .... .303 rifle cases? Primers on table? What are they doing? Doesn't look like they're stuffing in Cordite.

Sorting machine decapped brass. The machine dumps decapped brass and primers into a bin. The ladies sort the brass and send the primers to recycle. This is likely range brass from training units.

 

[Sharps '74]

I wonder how they decapped Berdan primers .... ?

 

[HuskyDude]

Sharps..is this what you're talking about????

 

[Cottage Hill Bill]

Cordite loaded brass wouldn't have been recycled because as Ganderite says, the cordite was loaded before the brass was fully formed, no way to reload a fired case with cordite, plus the problem of Berdan primers. So, probably setting up trays to feed the bulleting seating stage of production.

 

[Suomi]

 

[fingers284]

The cordite goes into the case when it is a straight wall. Then it gets bumped into the bottleneck shape.

And the primer insertion is automated. My guess is that they are inspecting each case and putting in a block, primer up, to see the primer, too.

Well damn that explains something I've wondered about ever since I had to de-activate a bunch of cordite filled ammo for a fellow. it can be removed but man it is tight until you get a bunch of cords out.

 

[diopter]

 

[Sharps '74]

I've had the joy of depriming Berdan cases in two calibres. Even bought a special tool for it. A real PITA either way.

Can't see an arsenal taking the time to recycle Berdan cases in hundreds of thousands ......

 

[Grizzly Adams]

After All, the machines aren't blessed with blue eyes.

Grizz

 

[TheWhole9Yards]

 

[Sharps '74]

20 mm Lahti? They had a lot of faith in the mounting system on that little boat .....

 

[Falcorn]

Helmsman is not happy about muzzle brake in close proximity from his headwear.

 

[HuskyDude]

A.R.T.

 

[purple]

Helmsman is not happy about muzzle brake in close proximity from his headwear.

Maybe they should have slowed down to trolling speed and thrown a few lines out. When I visited Finland I was amazed to find freshwater fish, incl Yellow Perch, Walleye and Pike in the Baltic. The salinity is low enough for them to do well.

 

[Tyler]

So the specs are kinda wildly exaggerated ?!?

View attachment 310539

Arguably, yeah. I recall a few accounts from vets stating that they preferred to use it inside 100 yards. Beyond that involved a lot of guesswork, and luck, and the early shells had a tendency to skip off the armour and not detonate if they didn't hit it near square-on.

As for the velocity, it's slow. Similar to a 60mm mortar on charge '0', when the light is right you can watch it tumble in the air at the apogee until it gets enough velocity for the fins to work again.

 

[green]

I've had the joy of depriming Berdan cases in two calibres. Even bought a special tool for it. A real PITA either way.

Can't see an arsenal taking the time to recycle Berdan cases in hundreds of thousands ......

In the International Ammunition Collectors web site there is a link to WW1 British salvage of .303" ammo from the field. Berdan primed ammo only. Case put in collet and a cutter cut outside edge of the primer removing it. Case dried recapped and bullet reloaded. CEF salvaged 10 million 303 rounds after Vimy.
c1900 Dominion Cartridge Factory ,Quebec recapped large quantity of .303" MkII loaded ammo probably using similar process.