1943 75mm Blank

[917601]

No special value, not a big market for blanks, but, this one appears to be unissued and escaped the factory just prior to being loaded. The finish appears to have been Chem cleaned, blank casings are commonly reloaded for reuse. The head stamp date of 1943 is especially interesting. It stands 7 1/4 " tall.

[917601]

More.

[917601]

Last one. I have not been able to determine if the inking is from WW2, or reloaded after then. At one point, the black inking was switched to white inking, no idea when.

[917601]

https://www.army.mil/article/56825/always_heard_but_never_seen

"Members of the U.S. Army Presidential Salute Battery, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), have the duty of firing final salutes during memorial ceremonies for service members laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, Va. and are responsible for rendering honors to visiting foreign dignitaries and heads of state at the White House, Pentagon and throughout the National Capital Region.

This elite element of the Old Guard, the only one of its kind in the Army, consists of about 34 Soldiers, most serving as an indirect fire infantryman, ranging from private to sergeant first class...platoon is stocked with high-gloss black, three-inch 5,775-pound World War II vintage anti-tank guns mounted on 105mm Howitzer chassis. Each gun weighs 5,775 pounds and fires 75mm blank shells with one-and-a-half pounds of gunpowder."

[ccyooper]

Nice shell but I don't believe its that old as I believe that cartridge was designated in the late 70's or maybe later. The E1 became the A2 in the 80's I think. Just asking but what makes the round 43 round special? Was that a rare year, weren't most if not all these rounds cut down from old brass? I think the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant still makes all the rounds IAAAP. I think West Point may have a ceremonial battery but it no where as elaborate as the Old Guard.

[917601]

Nice shell but I don't believe its that old as I believe that cartridge was designated in the late 70's or maybe later. The E1 became the A2 in the 80's I think. Just asking but what makes the round 43 round special? Was that a rare year, weren't most if not all these rounds cut down from old brass? I think the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant still makes all the rounds IAAAP. I think West Point may have a ceremonial battery but it no where as elaborate as the Old Guard.

I find it amazing a 1943 dated blank casing would be used so many years after it's manufacture. I have seen current examples and many appear to be steel, with white lettering ( phosphate finish?). Can you date the lettering? 70's?

[ccyooper]

Good question, i'm not sure. What I do know is that ch4 to TM 43-0001-28 has identical markings. The pub is base 1977 thru Ch16 1987. So as of 1987 they were still using that nomenclature. Probably still are. The army wanted to buy approx. 64K more rounds in FY2017 at approx. $7M so they are not cheap. I guess they are using a lot of them when Army keeps running up the score at football games. As far as brass I think the Army had mountains of old brass stocked plus they recycle all these old blanks. I read in one study that IAAAD can produce 5K of the blanks a day. I think that's just the brass casings not fully loaded rounds.