question on german shell case colors

Sometimes it seems like the more I learn, the less I know. I have in front of me a photo of two 88 rounds side-by-side that I took at Bovington. One is parkerized steel gray, the other is brass. They are in a museum display case with an interpretive sign at the bottom. Unfortunately, the text is too small to read in this photo. Wish I could make it out, since I suspect this text might shed some light on the matter, (or perhaps confuse things even more).

Hoping to make another visit to the UK and Bovington later this year. When I do, I expect to have quite a laundry list of questions to annoy the staff with!

P.S. One more thing I forgot. There are also copper-plated steel casings, which look oddly enough, copper colored!

hey thanks alot for your help all ,and that pick of the JT ammo is just what I needed ,for one of my other unfinished projects , 2 part ammo no wonder they needed 2 loaders ! Must have made a mighty thump when it hit though !

Well, thanks Spector, but I believe Rob is da man here, for I have not personally examined any of these babies, other than some odds and ends at the IWM in London. Now, before you all make me eat my words, remember what Rob said about different colors for different years and factories. Here is a 128mm Jagdtiger shell;



Hey! That thing isn't yellow-green, it's black! OK, sorry, but it's the only color photo of this one I have. Black and white photos that I have of 128mm flak ammo are both brass and black steel. So where did I get the pale yellow-green ones? From Tank Power #16, pages 88-91. The other problem with this image is that there isn't any stenciling on either the casing or the projectile, which leads me to suspect that they have been repainted. But like I said, I have B/W photos of 128mm flak ammo that are plainly black. I'm going to bail out on this because I don't have any more info at the moment. If anyone wants the image of the yellow-green Tiger ammo, just drop a line and I'll post it.

It was sop for the germans to keep hang fired or misfired shells on the vehicle and send them back to supply for evaluation and or reload. (if opportunity allowed, i.e. the red army wasn't in the process of eating them for lunch)

The German's used a form of Parkerinization for all shell casings, no matter the caliber. I have personally examined shells from 88mm to 7.92mm and most were steel gray, some were pale yellow (7.92 Kurtz), and some were gray-blue. It depended on the year, and the factory. Brass was discontinued after about 1940-41, but that didn't mean that you would still come across some that were re-loaded. They also re-used the boxes, and the wicker shell holders. They were mostly grey/dirt colour.
Hope that this helps

Rob Savage

TY guys , yea perdexion is the man when it comes to these questions , I had no idea of steel casings either . Speaking of that is there any chance you could email me a pic of that 128 ammo ? That would come in real handy for one of my other projects TY in advance if you could . heres my email, spector822002@yahoo.com

Listen to Peridexion! I had no idea the Germans used steel casings, but it makes sense when you think about it from a supply/shortage standpoint. If you use brass as the color, no one is likely to come after you as it's the accepted color for what shell casings should look like in general.

Actually, not all German shell casings were made of brass. Due to the German's chronic shortage of copper, steel shell casings were introduced as a way to alleviate this problem. Because bare steel would stick to the inside of breech after firing and paint would splinter off and foul the gun, the shell casings were Parkerized. Parkerization would color the casings a pale yellow-green. Now comes the big question. Which shells for which weapons used Parkerized steel casings?.....Humm...That answer I don't have. I have pictures of 88mm and 128mm ammo in steel casings, but I don't think I have any photos of 75mm ammo. However, that doesn't mean that the Germans didn't make it. Since 75mm guns were made and used right up to the end of the war, it is likely that these casings were also made of Parkerized steel. I believe I have seen steel cased Panther ammo, but I'm not sure. More research is needed to answer this question. But for now, just leave them brass and no one will ask why.

All shell casings, so far as I'm aware, were brass or copper. The casings need to be able to expand to seal the breech and the paint would hinder that and/or foul the breech with burnt and loosened paint.