shell??????

[junior]

Hi,

I have a shel with this markings;

17 PR

II
a
L OT ECC



69F
"arrow pointing to the 9"


1944 CR



__________________________________________________ ________________
The shell is 80 mm at the top, and 133 mm at the bottom,
WHAT IS THIS FOR A SHELL???

Cheers,
Junior.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Junior, it is a British 17 prd anti tank round. This was the best A/T gun designed by the British. It could be towed or fitted into the Sherman which was then known as the "Sherman Firefly". Here is a bit of info I have taken from the game "A Bridge Too Far" :


17-Pounder Antitank GunCaliber: 76.2mm (3in.)
Armor Penetration: 122 mm (4.8 in.) at 100 m (110 yd)

While the British sought ways of improving the velocity and penetrating power of their 2- and 6-pounder antitank guns, they were also developing a heavier gun intended to stop any tank. In August 1941, a mockup of this new heavy gun the 17-pounder antitank gun was unveiled. Without waiting for full-size prototypes to be made, 500 were ordered by the British army.There was concern that the gun, estimated to weigh 3 tons, would be too unwieldy; however, the gun (and its carriage) ended up weighing just over 2 tons, and moving and setting it up proved imminently manageable. Although there were initially difficulties in matching gun and carriage production, this problem was soon resolved. The 17-pounders were on the North African front in late 1942, just a month before the first Tiger appeared.

Here is a link to a website which shows the headstamps to a 17 pdr shell:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/stephen.jo...arms/stamp.jpg

Nice item by the way. These guns were used at Arnhem and there are three outside the Airborne Museum.

Cheers, Ade.

[merdock]

Hi Ade,

I,m certinatly no expert on the 17 but are the performance figures correct?
122mm at 100yards is not good at all ,pherhaps you mean 1000 yards and then using standard solid AP shot. using APDS iv'e seen figuers off 200mm+ for the 17 at 1000yards. you also mention it's deployment in Africa hinting that they stooped the tigers,''did not the 1st tiger fall to a 25pdr field gun'' not too sure on this.
also the 17 was mounted on a valentine 1st to become a self propelled gun? can not remember what it waas called.
Pherhaps someone can fill in more details.
All the best Merdock

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Merdock, as I mentioned I just ripped off the info from a game I had to hand so I am not sure of how accurate it is

I can tell you the SP gun which mounted the 17 pdr was the "Archer"

here is a link: http://www.wwiitanks.co.uk/tankdata/...pdrArcher.html

This link also has some info on performance.

Cheers, Ade.

[junior]

It is possible, my fathers grandfather (that guy from the S.A.S) took it from Arnem....
Thanks any way!!!
Junior.