Image: World War 2 German ammunition

Description: Four steel-cased 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridges and three German World War 2 era 15-round ammunition boxes. 15 Patr. sS (Patronen schweres spitzgeschosse—"Cartridges, heavy, pointed-bullet") 15 rounds of German Heavy Ball ammunition (used in machineguns). The German military often omitted any diameter reference and only printed the exact type of loading on ammunition boxes during World War II. The base color of a cartridge-box label indicated the type of cartridge (e.g., White label with Black text for rifle ammunition, Pale Blue label with Black text for pistol ammunition) and the label's over-stripe indicated the type of bullet (i.e., wide vertical Blue stripe for Heavy Ball, diagonal Green stripe for Tracer, diagonal Red stripe for Armor-Piercing, etc.). eej 8 .L. 41 (8 Lieferung 41, "#8 Lot, 1941") means the assembled and packed cartridges were from Lot #8 produced in 1941 by contractor eej (the contractor code for Märkisches Walzwerk GmbH, Strausberg District, Postdam, Brandenberg, Germany). Nz. Gew. Bl. P. (2-2-0,45) mog. 1940/133 (Nitrozellulose-Gewehr-Blättchenpulver, "Nitrocellulose - Rifle - Flaked Powder"; Powder Grain Size: 2mm x 2mm x 0.45mm), means the cartridge propellant was from Batch #133 produced in 1940 by contractor mog. (Deutsche Sprengchemie, Werk Moschwig; Moschwig, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). Patrh. S. (St.)+ lac. eej 6.L.41 (Patronenhülsen, means "cartridge case"; (Stahl) means "steel case"; "+" means having a reinforced case-bottom (verstärkten Hülsenboden); lackiert, means having a rustproof lacquer coating); eej 6.L.41 means the cases used were from Lot #6 produced in 1941 by contractor eej. Gesch. eej 1.L.41 (Geschosse > "Bullets") means the bullets were also made by eej and were from Lot #1 of 1941. Zdh. 88: S.K.D. 884.L.40 (Zundhuetchen, "Primers") means that the cartridge Primers were Type 88 from Batch #884 produced in 1940 by contractor SKD (Selve, Kronbiegel, und Dornheim A.-G Munitionsfabrik, Sommerda, Thuringia, Germany). o.L (ohne Ladestriefen), "Without Clips") or Für MG (Für Maschinengewehr, "For Machinegun") means the cartridges were packed unclipped for loading into machinegun belts. i. L. (im Ladestriefen, "In Clips") or Für Gewehr ("For Rifle") would indicate they were pre-packed in 5-round Mauser stripper clips. The red overstamp made it easier for soldiers to grab the right ammunition in a hurry.
Title: World War 2 German ammunition
Credit: Own work
Author: Arielnyc2006
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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