Ok, in all the pictures posted of comparative shells, they are painted in different colours. Or at least the German ones are. What do these colours stand for (does Black = AT, yellow = HE, etc?), and did other countries do a similar thing?
Yes, pretty much (although the Russians bothered less with it). Each country had their own colour codes, and they changed them over time, but it's generally true that AP projos were black and HE yellowish. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum
