ID of old cartridge casing

[Norm060644]

A long time ago, I found a casing that then resided in my jewelry box. We are talking 1966, so that was, indeed a long time ago. I was diving at a WWII battle site in the Pacific and found lots of casings, most of which were US issue. But one, which appears to be a .303 type round, was unusual. It was more or less encrusted with algae and some coral growth, which I gently removed.

The headstamp says, K36 on top and VII on the bottom. The center-fire firing pin was an oval, which, of course, set off the primer. Can anyone tell me anything about it?

Thanks<

Information

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[Flying10uk]

A couple of pictures of the item may be helpful to members with this one, please.

[browningautorifle]

K36 on top and VII on the bottom. The center-fire firing pin was an oval

Sounds like a bog standard .303, made by Kynoch in 1936 and was the Mk 7 type. The oval firing pin strike is typical of Bren guns...what battle ground?

[emmagee1917]

The Jap navy did adopt copies of British .303 MGs for use in their planes if that helps with where / when of the battle site . They might have had supplies of British .303 early on . They adopted it as the 7.7 Rimmed .
Chris

[browningautorifle]

Did they use an oval firing pin like the Bren? And by the sound it's a Kynoch...

[Flying10uk]

The Japanese must have captured vast quantise of British weapons after the fall of Singapore, Hong Kong and other places in the Far East where British and/or Commonwealth forces were based. Presumably the Japanese made use of these captured weapons in some way?

[emmagee1917]

The British .303 and the Jap 7.7 Rimmed are the same round for all practical purposes . Headstamps would be different . The Japs MAY have purchased .303 from the Brits early on ( 1938 / 39 ish ) to get started and I'm certain they would use any captured supplies they could . I was just saying that could be a reason a British round might have gotten on a US / Jap battlefield .
Don't know enough about the two countries MGs to know if the firing pin shapes differed or not .
The Japs also adopted a copy of the German MG-15 in 8MM Mauser for airplane use mainly in China , so 8MM could be found on a battlefield that the Germans never was on , too.
Chris

[Eaglelord17]

The Japs also adopted a copy of the German MG-15 in 8MM Mauser for airplane use mainly in China , so 8MM could be found on a battlefield that the Germans never was on , too.
Chris

7.92x57 was a extremely popular round around the world at that time period. The Chinese (both Nationalist and Communist) used it as there primary round. Other countries using that caliber at that time were Romania, Czechslovakia, Turkey, Spain, Poland etc.

[matthanne1]

Picked up a crusty Turkish-marked 8mm casing laying on the ground in an Israeli airbase in the southern Negev back in the early 1990s, am sure it had a story too. Sorry for the hijack-

[browningautorifle]

I was diving at a WWII battle site in the Pacific

Still waiting to find out what battlefield. Lots of English fought in the Pacific, lots of US weapons on lend lease...you're assuming it's a US battlefield.