7.92x57 German B-Patrone spotting cartridge. Has internal firing pin that detonates a small capsule of tetryl which in turn ignites the white phosphorous in the nose of the projectile.  Headstamps 7/39/p413/s* and 7/39/p/s*.  wolfgang

Where can I get some?

Fascinating. Thanks

Is it safe to section those with typical shop methods? Is there a risk of igniting the marker?

On a level of 1-10, a 12!  Very, VERY dangerous round to cut in a home shop.  DO NOT TRY TO ATTEMPT!  Its not the explosive part you need to worry about, although will hurt, but the white phosphorous when ignited CAN NOT be extinguished.  Its either let it burn through your hand or dig it out with a knife.

I have some boxes of this from WW2 that came in a sealed crate, but only regular ammo was in the box.  These cutaways are very interesting––thanks.

More cut-aways.. Love these.

A VERY, VERY, VERY slow cutting blade.

Is this a fairly unique design, or is this how a lot of incendiary/explosive projectiles work?



Really fascinating!

Very interesting thanks for the pics.

How do you get a crisp cutaway like that?  Never mind the incendiary compounds; I haven't found a way to hemisect that doesn't smear the various metals.

pretty cool

The Soviet 7.62x54r and Argentine 7.65x54mm Observation cartridges have very similar construction, possibly a few other rifle calibers of the same general era. Very complex and very expensive to make. The U.S. Army did extensive test on the B-patrone during/after WWII and found it to be amazingly stable and safe to handle, even surviving severe drop and crush tests. I know of examples of B-Patrone that survived plane crashes...

A friend of mine from way back was breaking down a lot of old, unserviceable 7.65x54mm  rifle ammunition with a kinetic bullet puller and found an Observation round the hard way. The tip color had worn off so it looked like a ball cartridge... Fortunately he still has all of his body parts intact.

1DD

Hey 1DD, did it look like this!
Still have all my fingers and toes, this is what happened when I didn't pay attention.  
Like I said before, DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF!  If you do not know what you are doing, let an expert do it.
7.65x54 Argentine Spotter black tip.  (Notice that the case is still LIVE and bullet still ready to be fired inside the puller.)
wolfgang

Very cool. Thanks. What was the intended purpose of such rounds? Anti material etc?

you fire the spotting rifle attached to the weapon, at the target, if it's "on target" / "In range", you'll see the flash from the spotting round hitting the target,
then you fire the rocket/ AT round  with a high probability of hitting the target.  

eta: spotting rounds have similar ballistics to the weapon being used...

spotting rounds are a lot cheaper than the actual rocket / AT round

Although what Red 5 said is true, there are also spotters for "regular" rifles.  The yellow tipped 7.62x51 "observation" round comes to mind (T103).    
A tracer shows the trajectory of the bullet, where a spotter shows the impact of the round.

Really I should have been more specific, the B-Patrone  Observation Cartridge is a explosive/ incendiary round. Completely against the Hague Convention, it was reported to be used in the last days of WW2 by the German snipers on the Russian front.

After 1953, the Czechs remanufactured (repaired) captured B patrone cartridges.  They reloaded the projectiles in new cases and painted the tips silver. The box would say -  Metak Sa Eksplozivno-Zapalgiuim Zrnom EZ
wolfgang

Spotter and Observation cartridges are two totally different things. 7,9 mm B-patrone = Beobactungs-patrone = Observation cartridge. Intended to be fired by a unit leader to direct fire as the white phosphorus incendiary mix gave a bright flash and a large cloud of smoke for the other troops to see and concentrate their fire on. These were also used by the Luftwaffe for air to air combat, mixed with AP, AP-Tracer and AP-Incendiary.

Although there were official ratios many Luftwaffe pilots had their own preferred mix and their ground crews loaded up the belts "custom" per the pilot's instructions.

B-patrone was also authorized for snipers to be used on the East front only. The Soviets were considered sub-human so the Germans did not care if they used B-patrone in the anti-personnel role. The Soviets reportedly were doing the same to them with their copy of B-patrone in 7.62x54r.

I read one account of a German sniper that used a captured Mosin-nagant sniper rifle and the red tipped explosive incendiary rounds usually found in machine gun belts... A head shot with an explosive round was very demoralizing to the troops in the near vicinity...

Spotter cartridges are reduced velocity, trajectory matched to a larger rocket or projectile and not generally a regulation size rifle cartridge. They are often just a tracer or a tracer with an incendiary like charge designed to give a flash and puff of smoke to designate the location of a hit.

It was the Yugoslavians that remanufactured the B-patrone after the war. I saw where a guy got a full, sealed crate of this by mistake with his order of regular 7,9 mm ball ammunition!

1DD