I have a 40mm Bofors shell with projectile, and the projectile is painted green with a white stripe. I have been told that different colors mean different things. What do all the different colors mean?
This is for US shells only. Other countries could and are different. Type of projectile: Armor Piercing: Black Common: Slate High Explosive: Green Antiaircraft: Green Antiaircraft common: Green Illuminating: Blue with white star Chemical / Smoke: Grey Target: Red White Phosporus: Aluminum There can be two bands on the shell also. One at the nose right behind the fuze and another about a quarter of the way down the body of the shell. Between these two the shell might be a different color too indicating the explosive filler used. Nose band: When present it indicates the color of the burst. Used only on non-VT AA rounds. Waist band: A white band with small color dots in four places indicates tracer and the tracer color. A band any other color indicates that spotting dye is used and its color (naval rounds mostly). The area between the bands can indicate the explosive filler: Explosive D: Yellow Composition A: Medium Blue TNT: Green Black Powder: Slate Illuminating: Blue Chemical: Ocean Grey Inert or empty: Red A thin band half way down chemical and smoke shells is used to indicate their fill: Smoke: Yellow Persistant chemical (eg., mustard etc.): Two green bands Non persistant casuality: Green Non persistant harrassing: Red Incendiary: Purple All manufacturer information should be printed or stamped just above the driving band at the base of the shell.
TA I have a sort of related question in regards to your last reply, I hope it's not too OT for the thread, I don't mean to hijack it but don't feel it warrants a new one. In Hornfisher's book Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, and also in a documentary I saw on the same Battle off Samar, there is discussion of the different colors the Jap naval shells threw up on explosion. You clearly indicate that our 40MM Bofors shells might have colors added for identification, was this commonplace in other types of shells also? Other than the descriptions I mentioned above and your info in this thread I had not heard of this before. Thanks in advance if you know. Jeff
No, 40mm Bofors shells would not have had dye. Marker dye is mostly used on naval rounds for surface or DP guns of larger size to aid the director crews in spotting their shot visually. It became largely, if not entirely, unnecessary once radar fire control became the norm. The Japanese and other major navies also used this practice. This is where the reference to colored shell splashes comes from.
