Found this in a box of my great grandfathers things

Not sure what to make of it, thought I would try this forum out, thanks for the help if there is someone that can identify it. The tip unscrews from the body.

 

I had a WWII Japanese bomb/grenade and it looked very similar to that so my guess is some type of explosive shell. How big is it?

 

It is a de-activated artillery shell, The section that holds the fuse and primer had been drilled through to show it is hollow and harmless. Note the copper driving band near the base, replicated on the tiny pin we saw a few weeks ago that was a model of a shell.

 

Measure diameter of steel part, should be 20mm. Have seen ones like this with various patterns of holes in the fuze, and they turn out to be a projectile made into a salt or pepper shaker. ??

 

I suppose I should have asked about the size, 20mm is almost small arms ammo.

 

That makes sense then, i also found a pin awarded to my great grandfather for working for the war effort in production of materials. He probably snagged a couple shells as a souvenir.

 

Exactly-the projectile has never been painted, so you can tell it never got out of the factory as a finished product. The color of the paint usually indicated what explosives or other chemicals were to be put in such a projectile. That type of 20mm was mostly used in aircraft automatic cannons