I have found these 2 cartridges and noticed the weird shape of the left one can someone tell me what it is and what weapon uses it? and I would also like to know what the headstamps mean, I have tried looking them up but with no results.
[edit] reupload
The round on the left is a pretty common 8mm Lebel round, used in a number of French rifles and machine-guns, from about 1886 to at least the 1950s. Yours was made in 1934.
makes sense with the 81mm french mortar shells I found at the same location, a bit weird that they were found in the netherlands. must have been taken by the germans during ww2.
I would like to look at that 7.9 headstamp for you, but unfortunately, no pictures appear with your entry on my computer screen - only a box with a red “X” in the corner. I tried to bring the pictures up to no avail.
This comes up from time to time and not being able to post a picture myself - too computer stupid, or perhaps just plain stupid - so I don’t understand why it happens. I just write ti off as one more way for this @#&% computer to annoy me.
Maybe someone could just write out the headstamp on this thread?
i’ll try describing it. across the middle it says 1-J9 and when you rotate it 90 degrees it says SF-I. with the “-” being the percussion cap(or what it is called I had to look it up in a dictonary) so theres four sets of numbers/letters equally divided over the bottom.
ill even make a drawing :D
… J9
FS O I (with the J9 and the 1 rotated 90 degrees to left and O being the percussion cap)
… 1
(dots had to be there for drawing to work)
[edit] upon closer inspection I noticed the bullet has black paint on it, the whole bulet.
Cannot see the pictures and have tried 3 different browsers.Pictures are worth a thousand words.
joe
8mm lebel as said before used in Lebel or Berthier, the second one is also a french cartridge, a 7,5x54 made by SF (= SFM) in first quarter of 1939, used in MAS 36 or FM 24/29
Domi
is there still someone who can explain why the bullet is painted black on the 7.5x54?
and thanks alot guys for helping me out!!
Not so strange to find these cartridges in the Netherlands. In 1940 the French came to parts of the province of Noord-Brabant and the province of Zeeland to help defend it. During the war the Germans used a lot of French (and belgian) weapons in the Dutch coastal defences. In some areas you can find more French and Belgian cartridges than German cartridges.
my grandmother said they came from a german ammo depot wich was situated in our front yard. there was also some kind of AA emplacement there but i cant find any record of what type of AA it was, so thats my next objective to find out.