45mm Question

[US-Subs]

I picked up this 45mm at the Great Lakes Cartridge Show. Seems to be a fairly standard Warsaw Pact piece, but which country? At first I was thinking Czech, but it's missing some of the standard Czech characters, and there is a little Cyrillic on the base.

 

[strakv]

I would say Finnish.

 

[Alpini]

Yes, Finnish

 

[Nabob]

Here some pics of the Finnish markings,
Bob

 

[jvollenberg]

Can anyone fill me in on the codes for this round?
184 on the base I have as Russian, but being in a circle is odd for me.
The 240 and 231 I don't have listed anywhere.

Joe

 

[Nabob]

Hi Joe,
O-240 is the index of the projectile
231 is IMHO the lot number.

184 in the circle is common on russian 45 mm cases.

Here pics from the old wk2ammo forum.
Bob

 

[jvollenberg]

Bob,

Don't know why I didn't see that. Of course the O-240 is the nomenclature.
So the all up round should be A 2404 according to what is marked on the case. Although the drawing provided has A1215, and the center one is marked with the Russian UB0243.
The Finnish stuff is odd. Partly Russian, partly their own. I have never quite figured it out.

Joe

 

[Eggburt1969]

Not sure what the Finnish designation of the munition shown is, as I don't really have much Finnish reference material. It would seem to be fitted with an M-50 or M-50-like fuze. If it is fitted with an M-50 fuze, then in Russia this round would have the GAU (later GRAU) index code of 53-UO-243M (53-УО-243М) or 53-UO-243EM (53-УО-243ЭМ). The difference between the 53-UO-243M and 53-UO-243EM rounds is the charge system (case, propellant charge and primer) used. The charge system's would respectively be the 54-Zh-243A (54-Ж-243А) and the 54-Zh-243-1 (54-Ж-243-1). The charge systems certainly differ in the case and primer used, with some sources also saying the propellant charge designation differs too, though the same types (7/1 or 4/1) and weights (approx. 115 g) of single-base propellants are used. The muzzle velocity stated in official reference material us 335 m/s.

 

[Falcon]

As the case was made in 1938, am I correct that it was originally captured by Finland during the Winter War?

 

[jvollenberg]

Jeff,

Does the Projectile come out? Can you take a picture of the projo alone with the markings?

Joe

 

[US-Subs]

Yeah, but it may need a reminder in a couple of days. Is it Friday yet?