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Japanese 57mm HE Tank Round
- Thread starter M8owner
- Start date
Hello Hazord,
Where are you in the US? You can imagine my rapture when I walked into a little antique store in East Texas and found most of these items in one display case. A long time ordnance collector was selling off his collection. Most all of it is gone now - I had something to do with that. That is the good news. Some of those items had $1000 price tags on them. It took me 2 years to stopping by to finally get the prices down to something resembling reasonable. I paid absolute top dollar for the 57mm, 70mm and the 81 mm mortar round, but I do not regret it. How often do you find items like these in this condition?
M8
Where are you in the US? You can imagine my rapture when I walked into a little antique store in East Texas and found most of these items in one display case. A long time ordnance collector was selling off his collection. Most all of it is gone now - I had something to do with that. That is the good news. Some of those items had $1000 price tags on them. It took me 2 years to stopping by to finally get the prices down to something resembling reasonable. I paid absolute top dollar for the 57mm, 70mm and the 81 mm mortar round, but I do not regret it. How often do you find items like these in this condition?
M8
To answer your questions, I'm in the free state of Idaho, and you find items like those in someone else's collections. Originally after WWII most people found the majority of Jap Ordnance in the Western U.S., and the German Ordnance was in the Eastern U.S., because the men coming home from the war were departing the troop ships on those coasts. An exception is Jap experimental aircraft rounds which were found by a National Guard unit from New York, so all those rounds landed in New York State.
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BOUGAINVILLE
Well-Known Member
A very nice collection indeed. Well done in scoring them. All in top condition and the 81mm mortar sporting correct fuze and charge increment bags is a real treasure.
So your saying men East of the Mississippi coming home from the Pacific Theater either sold or gave away their Japanese souvenirs before reaching home in the East with them and Ditto for the GI's from West of the Mississippi selling or giving away their European Theater souvenirs in the East before they reached home? Makes no sense. Many "souvenirs" were mailed home as well. GIs were not assigned to the two theaters of operations based on whether they lived East or West of the Mississippi. (from the free state of Alabama, the new home of Remington Arms Co)
Good stuff in great condition. I too have an interest in Japanese ammunition! Could you post a picture of the tall 37mm AP round in the upper right corner? Nice. You have two, one seems to be a repaint, the other looks like original finish.
Jim
Japaneseordnance(at)yahoo.com
Jim
Japaneseordnance(at)yahoo.com
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Hello Jim,
I know your collection well. I have drooled over photos on other websites for some time now. I just thought about you on Friday when a Japanese ceramic land mine auction finished on ebay.
The repainted 47mm was my first; I got it from the East Texas antique shop. The second one I bought off a US ordnance web site - I was surprised no one got to it before me. As you can tell, it is really nice: fuze, ink stamps on casing, original paint, primer comes out, and silk powder bags.
Enjoy!
Steve
M8,
Hehe, it looked like a 37mm from the photos. A 47mm Type 1 round is even better. I consider them scarce and the powder bags are an added bonus. Good item. I know the website you are refering to and I nearly bought the same round. The case markings don't often survive over time. I too have one of these but in lesser condition minus both the projectile fuze and case base fuze. Good stuff! Thank you for the additional photos. I saw the ceramic mine on ebay, I have several so I took a pass. Hard to find them with the rubber fuze seat and bakelite fuzes.
Jim
Hehe, it looked like a 37mm from the photos. A 47mm Type 1 round is even better. I consider them scarce and the powder bags are an added bonus. Good item. I know the website you are refering to and I nearly bought the same round. The case markings don't often survive over time. I too have one of these but in lesser condition minus both the projectile fuze and case base fuze. Good stuff! Thank you for the additional photos. I saw the ceramic mine on ebay, I have several so I took a pass. Hard to find them with the rubber fuze seat and bakelite fuzes.
Jim
Spaceinvader
Well-Known Member
I would call it fake, not the right projectile/case. Still cool non-the-less, but I wouldnt put it up saying its a real round.
I know nothing regards japanese stuff but the seller does say the following in his listing description...
"This is a Japanese 57mm tank casing mated with an armor piercing naval projectile repainted in the early war Japanese paint scheme. Casing is in excellent shape as pictured. The chances of finding a matching armor piercing projectile were pretty much nil, so I found 2 old naval projectiles and painted them in the early Japanese scheme (white band above the rotating band, yellow above that, and red tip). I made one for myself and one for someone else. The projectile is a pretty close match to an original except the height is about 1/2 to 3/4 inches taller. I also put the white stripe on the rotating band as that was too wide."
"This is a Japanese 57mm tank casing mated with an armor piercing naval projectile repainted in the early war Japanese paint scheme. Casing is in excellent shape as pictured. The chances of finding a matching armor piercing projectile were pretty much nil, so I found 2 old naval projectiles and painted them in the early Japanese scheme (white band above the rotating band, yellow above that, and red tip). I made one for myself and one for someone else. The projectile is a pretty close match to an original except the height is about 1/2 to 3/4 inches taller. I also put the white stripe on the rotating band as that was too wide."
Wow that's kinda high for an original case and a repainted US projo. 57mm AP rounds are rare. Here's a picture of an original 57mm AP I lifted from the internet. I don't have my manuals in front of me but I do believe there exists a 57mm HEAT round as well as an experimental aircraft 57mm. Never seen the HEAT type for sale but I have a picture of one somewhere...
Too bad this one is in Japan and it's not for sale....
Jim
Too bad this one is in Japan and it's not for sale....
Jim
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