Ordinance ID Please..........

[Craig H]

A friend of mine found this buried in the sand in the Mojave desert . He was told by someone that the area he was in was used by Patton for training prior to his deployment to North Africa . The stampings on the primer read : 1943 M-33 IOP-4-80 What exactly is it ? Thanks Guys .

[jiipee76]

It is tail section of 81mm Mortar round.

M33 is percussion primer used together with M6 Ignition cartridge for 81mm Mortar rounds.For example M43A1 mortar round.

[Infanteer]

My thoughts as well. It looks like the tail section of a mortar round that has lost it's fins upon detonation.