I have this shell casing that I can't identify. It's a 45mm x 130mm long. I didn't have any lucking searching the headstamp but I assuming the 4/16 means April 1916? Any info or pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks!
researching 45mm shell casing
I have this shell casing that I can't identify. It's a 45mm x 130mm long. I didn't have any lucking searching the headstamp but I assuming the 4/16 means April 1916? Any info or pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks!
Looks like a shell casing from a 37mm 'Pom-Pom' gun. I'm no expert on headstamps, but I think you're right on the money in regards to the date. The 'K' might indicate 'Karlsruhe', a popular German manufacturer of these shells. The British, French, Belgians and the United States also used these shells, so it could potentially be from any of those countries.
Ready and willing to be corrected by others, as this is not one of my chosen fields!
B.B.
Definitely not german. Not the correct marking scheme
In fact the S on the shell means Showa for the Japanese showa dynasty
4- April
16- 1941
Its a Japanese shell
Edit
It makes sense, the Japanese captured british pom pom guns and made there own ammo
Brodie inspired me to look harder at the "K" and it looks like a Kynoch "K". Could/would the Japanese reload and remark captured British casings? Still struggling with gun that fired this round. ID is 45mm not 37mm
Im sorry if this sounds rude, but the shell must be 47mm , you might of measured wrong.
This cannon here fired an almost identical round
QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss - Wikipedia
Fired a 47x131mmR shell, which is basically the same size as yours that and i can not find any other related cannons that ever fired “45mm”
The british used an identical cannon in ports and the Japanese as well may of used the cannon on smaller “second line” ships. As the wiki article stats they removed them after the sino russian war.
My guess is the Japanese may of captured stocks of these shells, fired some, then refurbished them. Or maybe they received a batch of these shells way back before ww1 or during ww1 and refurbished them during ww2.
Measuring again I was able to measure 46mm but is slightly out of round. I suspect after years of handling the rim may have been pushed in a bit. Jb you have been more than helpful. Many thanks!
Here is another bit of information i think might be useful if you can confirm it. Is the anchor symbol on this shell the same on your shell from your eyes?
If so, the anchor stamp means it has been through Kure arsenal.
Here is some info about the place Kure Naval Arsenal - Wikipedia
Yes it is the same anchor symbol. Good catch!
I'll go with K = Kynoch made at the Witton factory in Birmingham not sure of the 1 it may/could be an inspectors stamp as there were other factories K2, K4 & K5 for the satellite ones I have not seen a round stamped with the main factory noted as K1 but hey anythings possible.
As stated 4/16 = April 1916 DOM
As a bit of useless information for you all in WWI Kynoch produced in excess of 2.373 billion (2,373 million) .303 cartridges
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