The following was received from a friend who is the honorary lieutenant colonel of the 42nd Field Regiment RCA. Can anyone provide some information about this very odd round?
"I have attached a picture of a curious item in our 42nd Fd Regt (L&R Scot) RCA Regimental Museum. It is a six pounder Atk cartridge case necked down to take a 2 pdr Atk round. The necking down is smooth, not done by an amateur but I can think of no explanation for it. I did consider the unlikely possibility that someone might have experimented at one time with a barrel inset that would allow sub-calibre training but that can’t be the answer in my opinion, the ballistics, both interior and exterior would not work. In fact, unless a reduced charge was in the cartridge case the results would have been catastrophic and the round would almost certainly have been unstable in flight. All of this without the issue of the cost involved. Have either of you an explanation for this?"
The attachment is at: IMG 2082.JPG
"I have attached a picture of a curious item in our 42nd Fd Regt (L&R Scot) RCA Regimental Museum. It is a six pounder Atk cartridge case necked down to take a 2 pdr Atk round. The necking down is smooth, not done by an amateur but I can think of no explanation for it. I did consider the unlikely possibility that someone might have experimented at one time with a barrel inset that would allow sub-calibre training but that can’t be the answer in my opinion, the ballistics, both interior and exterior would not work. In fact, unless a reduced charge was in the cartridge case the results would have been catastrophic and the round would almost certainly have been unstable in flight. All of this without the issue of the cost involved. Have either of you an explanation for this?"
The attachment is at: IMG 2082.JPG