Detonator question

[glasfryn]

Hi all. Can anyone help with the following email I recieved from a friend?

I dont know if you remember but i told you i found a very deep slab of concrete beside the building we put up with fist size bolts in it. I was landscaping there the other day and i came across the used base of a mortar or shell.The markings read along the top: No 1 2 HC (arrow)/40 and along the bottom: 761A CY12-42 Somebody somewhere must know what type of this was

any help guys??
Cheers jason

[PETERTHEEATER]

Without seeing the item a positive ID is unlikely. Taking the marks out of given order:

12HC - This ought to be a shotgun 12 bore but is probably something else.

'Arrow' - the standard War Department marking.

/40 - Year of manufacture (1940) of the projectile?

761A - ?

CY12/42 - Propellent filled by Chorley Royal Ordnance Factory, UK, Lot Number 12 of 1942

[glasfryn]

P1060010.jpg
P1060009.jpg
hope this may help..cheers

[buccaneer66]

glasfryn

Posting pictures like that you'll have Peter drooling.

[P Bellamy]

Without having any measurements, I'd suggest it's a British "Primer, Percussion, QF Cartridge, No.1 MkII"



As fitted to the shell cases of the following:

Ordnance, QF, 13 Pdr Gun
Ordnance, QF, 17 Pdr Gun
Ordnance, QF, 25 Pdr Gun
Ordnance, QF, 3.7" Gun Mks I-III

(Source: Regulations for Army Ordnance Services, Vol. 4 - Ammunition, Pamphlet 10: Primers, Igniters & Tubes, Part. 1: Primers, Cartidge, Percussion & Electric. 1960 Edition)

All the best,
PB

[glasfryn]

Thanks PB..The dimensions match.....would this have been the same for a 4" coastal gun shell?

[PETERTHEEATER]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Paul has correctly identified it as a shell Primer. The two 'U' shaped notches are for a tool to screw it into the base of the shellcase.

The OP stated figure '12' but it can now be seen as Roman Numerals II (Two). The letters HC are probably the identification code of the engineering factory who made the (unfilled) Primer. It may not have been one of the Royal Ordnance Factories (Engineering) but a civil engineering firm contracted by the War Department.

From the OP is mention of 'a deep slab of concrete with fist sized bolts' and, you now mention 4 inch coast gun. A large number of WW1 manufactured 4 inch naval guns were used in coastal defence of UK during WW2 and manned by the Army but these were BL (Breech Loaders) not QF (Quick Firing) and used separate ammunition. So, it is quite likely a Primer for a 4 inch Mk 7 gun shellcase.