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I purchased a case thats purported to be Japanese but not sure on the markings,
It has a stylised "S" then a 2 over a 17 with a small anchor on the base.
The measurements are 25mm I.D neck and 165mm O/A which matches the size for a Japanese round.
I'll clean up h base to see if there are anymore markings as it is pretty crudded up.
What do you guys reckon.
I reckon a photo or two would be a lot more helpful but suspect you knew that already. Sounds like it's a possibility. I have one that sounds similar with an S beside a 5 over 17 and an anchor. It also has two kanjis. The primer also has an anchor and a kanji.
Thanks Aragorn its really crudded up but due to me working dark to dark I have little inclination to go out in my shed to try and get the base cleaned up I wont do anything to the case as its part of its life story, those that polish these things to within an inch of its life are only destroying its history.
And I have passed many a shell by as I just don't want to wait another 80-100 years for the patina of being outside to return I'll see what I can do Saturday arvo after work I actually get home with the sun still shining:dancingbanana::thup:
I joined a munitions group on facebook and I brought the subject of cleaning them up to see what the serious collectors think because a lot of them post these very nice photos of what look like brand new rounds. It appears that restoration is accepted in this field. General consensus is that if it's in decent shape leave it alone but if not, clean it, fill it, repaint it. There were a few that said they would not do anything to them unless they were really bad and it was important not to pass off something restored as something new. In any case, cleaning the brass was definitely not an issue. They said if you want the patina back, just set it outside for a couple of weeks.
I recently purchased a 37mm round that was in good shape other than it was covered in reddish fingerprints. All over it. These will actually pit the shell if you don't do something about them plus they looked horrible. I cleaned the shell.
I have heard antique dealers say that you should never clean brass but I am not sure that I would agree with that. They have a point in that every time you polish brass, you remove a tiny amount of metal but I would say, in my opinion, that sometimes it is ok to polish brass and sometimes it isn't. It all depends on what the item is and it's condition.
I recently purchased a WW2 German canteen that is reasonably well dented and also reasonably well tarnished/patina'd. The patina on it looks great for a dented aluminium canteen but if I was to clean it up and polish it, it would look wrong.
Sitting outside I've got a solid shot anti-tank shell for the 25Pdr. someone turned into a fishing weight by welding a loop on the side. Must cut that off sometime and carefully remove the traces of the weld.
As "tested" at the first siege of Tobruk if I'm not mistaken. ;)
It must have been a big fish they were after Surpmil perhaps "Moby Dick" would hate to try and pull that 25Pdr up from a 100 fathoms. :madsmile:
It takes some weight to get these trolling lines down where they need to be as the boat moves forward. Usually big lead balls and they don't call them "cannonballs" for nothing!
Probably seemed like a good idea from a price and "hydrodynamics" point of view, but I expect it would tend to wander back and forth underwater. The rust would be a pain too, but our friendly fisherman apparently didn't want to shell out for galvanizing.
Never fired from the driving band.
Sorry about the hijack! ;)
When you said "fishing weight" I thought that you meant with a rod. :confused:
Very nice projectile, really good buy on your part. I'd take one in a heartbeat if chance came too...and do exactly the work you suggest.Quote:
Originally Posted by Surpmil
It's quite a lump of steel to have crashing into your tank that's for sure, even at that comparatively lower velocity. I'll post some photos when it's cleaned up, but that'll be project No27 or 28! :D
I have a couple a smoke fired and a solid with the DB removed will get aronud to posting pics one day.
Nice find anyway.
My flea market guy had a shell today that was tempting. 105mm with a fuse. Unfired, looks as new as the day it came out of the factory except for a couple of scuffs, probably from dropping it while moving it. He said he thought it was Vietnam era which puts it out of my primary area of interest but it is after all a shell.
What would you collectors put on this for a price? He's asking $200 which for me is a lot of money for something only casually in my area of interest.
It is just the shell, no casing to go with it although I have a WWII era 105mm casing. I think it would be suicidal for the feet to actually put it in it however as someone, probably me is going to knock it over. This may never have had a case anyway, could be artillery and get bagged.
105 probably had a case, not just bagged. Ours used a case with removable bags for charge. Then once you had the correct number of bags inside, the projectile was set into the case mouth to cut the bags loose from their connecting string. About the price, might be top end but if it's nice they're just as hard to find in good shape as anything else. I can find you a case here without effort... Agreed about top heavy, my 18pdr is sitting up on a spot in the basement at the corner so no one can get near it and it's leaning back into the corner...
It's been a long time since I fired an artillery piece. I honestly don't remember how we did it. I remember the bags all stringed together. Wasn't my branch but we did it all at least for one day in ROTC advance camp. The tanks were the best, although the artillery was pretty cool also.
If you get the projectile, I looked at two cases yesterday at my local...shipping might be a hog though.
I'm thinking about it. It does look awful nice. I have a 105 case here I think, just not sure if it would be the right one.
Well, as I pointed out on the 4.2 mortar thread these guys owe me so...don't know the date on their cases though. Haven't looked at them since I found them in their scrap pile.