This page is dedicated to colours and markings on artillery shells and mortars. Mainly British WW2 but a couple of WW1 and American ones may have crept in!
As with my previous blogs about identification, trawling the net is all well and good, but having a resource all on one page is far better. With that in mind, I’ve put all the diagrams I have acquired over the years onto this page. I’ve tried to keep the file size as big as possible so they can be easily read, as some of them have rather small writing.
As I find more diagrams I’ll post them to this page, so please come back whenever you need to. Just because the diagram you were looking for wasn’t there first time you looked, doesn’t mean it won’t always be there. Also, if you’re looking for something specific that isn’t covered, please use the contact page and I’ll see what I can do to help.
On to the mortars……….
Stephen Taylor, WW2 Relic Hunter 
Great stuff again Stephen.
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Hi there. I have a mortar round that I unearthed and can’t seem to find it on the internet. Can I send you a pic to see if you can ID it? Thanks
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Of course. Email sent. I do hope you have kept yourself safe though, and not removed it from the ground without knowing if it is safe or not!
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i have a old shell (artillery round i believe can you help me, i have pictures. Please let me know thank you so much
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Please use the ‘Contact’ page to drop me an email and I’ll try my best to help
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hey stephen! i’ve found a part (the tail) of an old artillery shell. could you help me finding the model/type?
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hi stephen! i’ve found a part of something. i guess it’s an old artillery shell (the tail). could you help me identifying it? thanks
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Of course. Please us the contact page to get in touch
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Stephen, a fascinating site.
The following mortar shell has come into my possession and I wonder if you could supply any further detail. We believe it is British and is marked 1940 165 IZ.
It is of little interest to me but I would like it to find a home where it would be appreciated.
It has been used as a ‘door stop’ since the 1960’s😳 so I trust it is inert.
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Hi Peter
Sounds very interesting. Please use the contact page to get in touch and, when I reply, you can send me pictures of the item.
Stephen
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I have what could be a bomb fuse found on farmland in Surrey. People in my metal detecting club have suggested either a bomb fuse or a ‘sheared axel/stub axle with dust cap/cover in situ’. It does have the right sort of shape for a bomb fuse which is what the farmer suggested it was, and I gather another was found nearby too. I would very much like your opinion – I will send photos to you if you respond. Thanks.
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Hi. Please use the Contact page to send me an email and when I reply, you’ll be able to send pics. Thanks
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Hi Steven i have a ww2 mortar bomb i think it is British 1945 lot number 8 i would like to know what marking would be on there to tell me that if any thanks Larry
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Loovely blog you have here
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