37mm mk iii a2 brass shell casing dated 1940

[Aragorn243]

Flea Market find today.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Nice, nice, nice...I have the longer projectile, M51B. My casing is the longer 37mm M16. I wonder if yours would be the type used in the P39 Aircobra?

[Aragorn243]

Nice, nice, nice...I have the longer projectile, M51B. My casing is the longer 37mm M16. I wonder if yours would be the type used in the P39 Aircobra?

Interesting. Following your lead and looking at the projectile rather than the shell, this is what I found:

Practice shell, 37 mm, M55A1 INERT M55 A1 practice round for the 37mm M4 auto-gun, used by the US and USSR military during WW II.

The steel case is marked with MARK III A2 and the complete round is dated 1941.

M4 auto cannon was used on Bell P-39 Aircobra and P-63 Kingcobra used by US and USSR Air forces and by US Navy PT boats

I have one of the longer versions also, they were used in the Stuart light tanks among other things.

[browningautorifle]

the longer versions were used in the Stuart light tanks among other things.

Yep, a very sexy looking cartridge.

[Aragorn243]

I found a second one of these for sale today. Worse condition and higher price. Just thought it odd to find two in two days but that wasn't the only thing. Yesterday I found an Italian Breda machine gun magazine. Guy wanted $45 and I wasn't willing to pay anywhere near that. Today I found one for $5. Only problem was it had post war applied green paint on it. Tried acetone and it did remove it but was very, VERY difficult. So out came the citristrip. Worked. So it is no back in proper WWII grey. I don't think I ever encountered either of these two items in the wild before this weekend.